On a faraway galaxy, inside a warship the size of a small continent, silence pressed heavily against steel walls worn by centuries of conquest.
The burly cyborg lizardman captain sat on his throne of cables and bone-metal alloy, claws drumming slowly against the armrest. His mechanical eye flickered with a dull crimson glow.
Captain: "Did you finish tracking the signal?"
A pause—then a voice from the scanning pit below:
Crew member: "Signal locked. Uploading to the holo-map."
The chamber dimmed as a vast projection ignited at its center. Spiral galaxies unfolded like luminous storms… until one region—empty, devoured of stars—came into focus.
A single red point blinked within the void as the captain leaned forward.
Captain: "…A deep void."
For a moment, even the hum of the ship seemed to falter.
A female lizardman, scales dark as obsidian, stepped beside him and rested a hand on his arm.
Vicecaptain: "Think beyond the fear," she whispered. "What waits there could restore
everything. Your honor… your throne… your name carved above all ancestors."
His jaw tightened. The scar running across his face twitched, ending at the cold lens of his cybernetic eye.
Captain: "If I claim it…" he muttered, "even she won't be able to deny me."
Behind him, the vice-captain smirked.
Vicecaptain: "The queen was always weak. Exiling you instead of finishing the job? A mistake."
The captain let out a low, humorless chuckle.
Captain: "She tried."
His claw tapped the metal plate covering part of his skull.
Captain: "She killed everyone else. But I don't die so easily."
His gaze returned to the void.
Captain: "…Still. A void is death. No stars. No fuel. No margin for failure. One mistake, and we drift until our bones freeze in silence."
The vice-captain straightened, eyes gleaming.
Vicecaptain: "Then we prepare. There's a pirate settlement along the outer routes. Rich, unguarded… complacent."
A grin spread across her face.
Vicecaptain: "Let's remind them who rules the void."
The captain waved his hand.
Captain: "Set a course."
The vicecaptain turned toward the crew.
Vicecaptain: "We raid." Her voice sharpened. "The nearest pirate world on our route. We will strip it clean—fuel, slaves, tech. Everything."
A murmur spread through the bridge.
Predatory.
Eager.
The captain's grin slowly returned.
Captain: "Prepare the fleet." His claw clenched. "Time to hunt!"
-- Far Across the Stars --
The pirate jungle world burned.
Explosions rippled across the main city and smaller settlements. Sirens howled, swallowed by the roar of orbital bombardment and descending spaceships, the pirate King's armada had arrived in orbit, and no one could stop their raid. The spacechips that tried were now raining back down from orbit, leaving trails of flames and explosions behind.
Antonio and Monico were running. They had come to the city for one last resupply before leaving the planet, and got caught in the crossfire.
Blaster fire streaked past him as he ducked behind a collapsed hull fragment, breath ragged.
Monico: "This wasn't supposed to happen!" shouted.
Antonio: "No plan survives pirates," he snapped back. "Move, we need to exit the city!"
A scream cut through the chaos.
Antonio turned.
A figure—half-shifting, her form flickering between shapes—was pinned beneath debris as flames crept closer.
Their eyes met, and his hesitation lasted less than a second.
Antonio: "Damn it."
He cursed as he sprinted toward her.
Monico: "Hey, wait up!"
Pirate woman: "Help me or leave me!" she hissed, her voice warping between tones.
Antonio grabbed the wreckage.
Antonio: "Shut up and hold still!"
With a strained grunt, he lifted enough for her to slip free. She collapsed beside him, breathing fast—her form stabilizing into something
almost human as she copied his general form.
"Why?" she asked.
Antonio didn't answer.
"Because we're leaving," he said instead. "And you're coming. Let's go!" helping her up.
They kept advancing through alleys till they reached the exit of the city, but a group of pirate raiders blocked their way as Antonio grew serious, taking out his knife and setting his rifle on his wrist. He barely sensed the recoil as the heads of six raiders blew up in rapid succession.
Antonio: "Let's go!"
He grabbed two rifles from dead pirates and gave one to Monico and another to the rescued girl. She appeared to want to say something, but he stopped her. "Introductions can wait till we are safe back at the ship, but for now, we run!".
-- Aboard the Recovered Ark-Vessel --
The ARK fragment pulsed uneasily inside his cylinder, electrical signals giving it feedback as it was connected to all the systems in the spaceship.
Inside the ship's core chamber, the embedded Ark fragment flickered with pale light, tendrils of energy tracing across ancient circuitry inside its containment cylinder.
Meanwhile, Elena walked back and forth as she waited.
Guardian: "Im… sure… they… safe…."
Elena: "Antonio, maybe as he's a three-hundred-year-old trained veteran with a military-grade reinforced body, but... Monico is only an engineer, barely 127 years old, he's the youngest of us… ugh I hate standing still waiting!"
Guardian: "group… approaching… Antonio… hostiles… behind them… Reading up… armaments…" A whir made the ship vibrate as the weapon systems were powered up.
In the jungle, Antonio carried Monico on his shoulder, as he had been shot in the leg while fleeing. At the same time, the mysterious alien woman barely managed to run behind Antonio, her breathing ragged and unsteady as she tried to shoot back while running, yet she was clearly in pain and struggling to keep up.
Behind them, shouts were heard as hundreds of pirates ran after them.
Antonio: "We are almost there, let's go!"
Alien woman: "huff huff there is… huff nothing huff… there!"
But at that moment, the guardian undid the visual camouflage, letting the spaceship be seen as Elena urged them to come inside from the spaceship's ramp.
They hurriedly ran inside as bolts of blinding light disintegrated the forest and ground behind them.
Guardian: "Hostiles... eliminated..."
Then, Antonio took the rifle from the alien woman and confronted her.
Antonio: "Who and what are you? Are you a pirate?"
Jannica: "...You can call me Jannica, as to what I am... I'm guessing you have never seen a polymerph... and your pronunciation of common galactic is quite forced, as if you learned recently... are you natives from this planet or some other primitive world?"
Antonio narrowed his eyes: "We are not. Now, answer me, are you a pirate?"
Jannica looked at Antonio up and down and smiled: "Well, you saved my life, so I guess I owe you at least that much... I'm currently a spy, my race, the polymerph, comes from a planet full of predators and evolved to imitate their shapes, and replace their cubs with ours-"
Monico had been given morphine by Elena, and was now listening as Antonio and Jannica talked. At the same time, Elena extracted the bullet from his shin, as they didn't have surgery robots on this ship.
Monico: "Oh, like a cuckoo!"
Jannica: "I don't know what that is..."
Antonio: "Ignore him, he's high due to pain medication."
Jannica: "I see... as I was saying, our race is good at adaptation and infiltration, so most of us work in related fields, in my case, I work usually as a spy and... an assassin if an opportunity appears, even as a bounty hunter, but never as a pirate."
Antonio relaxed his grip on his rifle slightly: "...and right now, what is your mission?"
Jannica seemed to ponder for a moment and replied: "To track down and report on pirate king Grock's movements, and to kill him if the opportunity presents itself."
Antonio: "Why were you on the surface then?"
Jannica: "Well, I arrived first to warn the population of the attack, there are innocent people even in a pirate city... I grew up in similar conditions myself, so I know it well, but they were expecting a traitor and rained down a bombardment the moment I entered the orbit. The landing ships must have been rigged with trackers. Sigh, I rushed too much and blew it... anything else you wanna know... saviour?"
Antonio: "You can call me Antonio... and yes, why were they attacking the city?"
Jannica: "Well, that's an interesting question with a long answer. Do you know what ARK planets are?"
Antonio nodded: "We have some idea, yes."
Jannica took a deep breath: "This will be faster then, Grock comes from the lizardman royal family. He was the crown prince, but his sister ascended to the throne in his place, as she was ruthless and he was a coward, running away with an artifact spaceship to defend himself as his sister got rid of any competition.
Now in exile, all he can do is to gather support but no one wants to support a coward pirate and become an enemy of his ruthless sister, so he plans to make a distant legend come true" she cleared her throat "According to legend, eons ago the lizardmen rebelled against their oppressors the ancients and won most wars as all races rebelled at the same time, and the most prized bounty was conquering an ARK world, an eternal paradise of a world, some even having eternal stars that would never fade, any civilization that got one is now a powerhouse conquering the galaxy"
She took out a data slate. "Now, apparently inside his spaceship there's a museum with relics from that age, and an old beacon from that time apparently got a signal from a beacon recovered from one of the spaceships from a battle that the lizardmen empire thought lost, when an entire lizardmen armada and the ARK world they were invading all banished on an instant."
Antonio: "Why did he attack this place then?"
Jannica: "I was getting to that, resources, apparently that ARK is in the middle of a space void, just at the very edge of what current spaceships can reach while full of fuel and resources, if you skip past it or you don't find it on time then, it's impossible to turn back, you would be stuck in the void, with nothing around you for an eternity... It's a terrifying way to die, but he appears intent on risking it anyway."
Antonio: "An ARK..." glancing slightly at the core.
Jannica: "Well, now it's your turn? Who are you guys?"
Antonio: "Revealing that to an interplatary spy doesn't seem wise, don't you think?"
Jannica observed Elena, Monico, and Antonio for a moment as her body became more human-like, growing long hair like Elena.
Jannica: "You guys saved me, so I owe you. Do you like this form better? I don't stand out like this, right?" Getting close to Antonio and putting her hand on his chest.
Monico then laughed: "Trying to seduce Antonio... jaja, truly barking up the wrong tree... jajaja."
Jannica was confused: "Barking, what? Hmm, do you like males perhaps?" Her body turning masculine.
Antonio stopped her: "That's not it, I don't experience desire, that's all, as I have a military-grade body. Anyway... You can come with us for now, your knowledge will likely come in handy, too. I'm glad I saved you, so don't do anything stupid and force my hand."
Jannica: "...Glad to be helpful... Antonio~" She then turned to Monico, "So, what about you? anything you can tell-"
But Elena stopped her: "Sorry, but he's in no condition to talk right now, you will have to wait for that."
Jannica: "Well, what about you then? Do you also have a... military-grade body, was it?" turning into a man.
Elena blushed: "W-well, no, but I know how to follow orders, you won't get anything out of me."
Antonio coughed: "Ejem! Jannica, you should be tired, so you should rest for now instead of teasing my crew."
Jannica: "...I see, I was quite tired indeed, do you guys have a bath?" Her appearance distorting into a humanoid, her shape still feminine, but her eyes now pitch black and her skin grey.
Antonio: "Is that your original form?"
Jannica laughed like a whistle, as she answered with a high-pitched voice: "Maybe if you tell me about you, I will tell you about me~."
Antonio nodded: "I see, I will take you to the bathroom then, follow me."
-- Back at the ARK --
The ship with most of the octopeople was sailing through the waves as they sailed to the lizardman capital on a long voyage.
Erik entered an engineering room with high elder Artalia inside, her recovered body easily five meters tall, with no blemishes or deformations anymore.
Erik bowed slightly: "You wanted to see me, Artalia?" but a hand stopped him:
Artalia's voice was firm as she adjusted the translation collar on her neck, her whistles translated into words he could understand.
Artalia: "Erik, you are my saviour and the saviour of my people, and the children of a dear friend of mine. I owe you so much, so please don't worry and speak calmly."
Erik: "...understood Artalia, so what did you wanna talk about?"
Artalia: "I wanted to be of help, but thinking what to give you, my technology knowledge is inferior to yours, so my weapons would be just decorations. Please tell me, is there anything you require of me? Perhaps I could guide you in your evolution. I have experience with shaping."
Erik: "No need, Artalia, I can remove harmful mutations so that doesn't affect me. We are also on our way to war, so just train and get ready to fight."
Artalia moved using her tentacles, but it was a bit hard out of the water.
Artalia: "fight... out of the water, I suppose?"
Erik: "Most likely, yes."
Artalia then remembered Timberly and Inky, who had legs: "Some of our kin seem to have legs like yours. Mind explaining that? Did they... consume others of your race? cause if that is-"
Erik: "hahaha! No, not at all, it was just a few cell donations, nothing else."
Artalia: "cell donations? Ah- are you talking of the ritual perhaps?"
Erik: "What ritual?"
Artalia: "One underwent by octopeople high elders back at the empire, they would gather the strongest of warriors and consume their eggs, they would come and..." she blushed slightly "release their sperm and eggs into a bowl for the high elders to consume, thus reinforcing their genes, and the high elders would respond in kind, thus both parties could become stronger. T-there are other rituals like meditation in a deep valley of solitude and all kinds of things... so if you, if you want... we could perform the ritual? I will eat your released eggs, and you can eat mine. My genes are better than the octopeople here. I can see you share some of our genes already from your skin and eyes, so there's nothing for you to lose."
Rose's voice sounded in his head: [ yeah, eat her eggs~]
Erik: "Ehem, sorry, but I don't release eggs. I will tell Rose to make you a smoothie from my cultivated cells if you wish, though. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm gonna go see my daughters, it's time for their lectures" exiting the room quickly.
Artalia: "w-wait... he went away? sigh fine, maybe I'm too pent up from too much solitude..." her fish skin leather skirt lifting as her huge member woke up underneath, she hadn't noticed while trying to survive or while studying, but for the first time in a while she was horny after just thinking about it slightly "Guess I will alleviate myself of this tension and keep with my research later..." her hands taking away her skirt, revealing a member as big as a human leg, "Just one time... just once and done..."
-- Hours later --
Erik was walking on the deck. He saluted the AI bots and octopeople doing their rounds around the deck as he enjoyed the night air. He had finished teaching his daughters and Crabina geology and basic arithmetic today, and they had liked the geology class, but the arithmetic had been a struggle.
Erik sighed to himself: "can't be helped, but it's important too, right?... hmm."
As he was deep in thought, he felt a tap on his shoulder, turning around to see Sarah.
Sarah: "A lot on your mind?" Her belly already quite big from the pregnancy by now.
Erik sighed: "Just thinking how to teach my daughters arithmetic... are you feeling alright? When I was pregnant, I had quite a few cravings myself. If you need it, I can bring you-"
Sarah put a finger on his lips and chuckled: "Slow down, super dad... mom? hmmm, there should be a neutral word... super parent? Anyway, tell me more about how you tried teaching them?"
Erik: "Well, the geology class was simple. Rose prepared samples, so I just explained where to find them and their uses, and they seemed to like it. But arithmetics... most examples I could think of were from back on Earth, so... it seems they weren't interested, but they won't live on this planet forever, if they visit Earth or other planets in the future..."
Sarah: "Well, they are still young, and judging by how healthy High Elder Artalia is, it seems octopeople can have really long lifespans, and with a biobed to help, they can live infinitely, so there's no hurry at all, Erik, no need to make plans or take decisions for them. Just ask them what they wanna learn, and teach them that."
Erik was stunned: "Such a simple but great way to see it... Yes, they have time to decide what each of them likes... thanks, Sarah." He put a hand on her belly and kissed her forehead, "can't wait for her to be born, too."
Sarah blushed: "I-Is that so... s-so... how are you and Inky lately?"
Inky: "We are fine, I believe. We eat together, sleep together, talk when we have time, watch movies, and Inky also likes... roll games jaja, well, I've been busy lately with the preparations while she cared for our daughters, so I might need to give her a gift or something... hmmm."
Sarah looked disappointed: "Ah... I'm happy for you guys... really..., I'm going back to the lab, ask if you need anything."
Erik sighed: "No need to test me like that, silly... I like you too, Rose actually asked me permission before the pregnancy, and I agreed."
Rose: [ liar, I told you after the deed was already done ]
Erik: [ Well, I would have agreed if you did ]
Rose: [ hmm noted, I might ask you if it ever happens again, I will do whatever seems more fun regardless though ]
Erik: [ Jaja... I expected nothing less ]
Sarah: "Really? So... can we eat dinner and sleep together too?"
Erik: "Eh? Ah, well, I need to be there for my daughters, not just for Inky, so if you don't mind helping with their education, you can eat with us, yes, as for sleeping together... we should ask Inky first though, as I don't wanna do the nonsense of seeing in secret or stuff like that."
Sarah: "...hmm, well, she's kinda good looking, but she clearly doesn't like me."
Erik: "Well, not as a competitor as she's quite... dominant, but if you are willing to... ejem, take her, I think she would agree..."
Sarah blushed deeply: "I don't know, I'm pregnant..."
Erik: "Well, it doesn't have to be now."
Sarah: "o-okay then... but I want you to always take me first, for her only left overs jaja~."
Erik shrugged: "Alright, no problems with that." he then kissed her forehead. "Shall we all go watch a movie? I was about to watch some movies with Inky and my daughters. You can join, some octopeople will be there too, come to the projection room on Deck 5 in thirty minutes."
Sarah: "Alright, I would love that," walking away giddily
Rose: [ Actually, someone else has been requesting to... have your children, several people in fact ]
Erik: [ Let me guess... Anhuka and.. Timberly maybe? ]
Rose: [ Impressive, so you are aware and playing dumb? Didn't you see how much Anhuka changed? She got a huge member down there and a human-like anatomy, thanks to Berutkan and me, her uterus should be fertile for your seed by now too. Timberly is also taking "milkshakes" to be more and more human and has had similar success~ ]
Erik: [ Timberly does look stunning, yes, and Anhuka is now easier on the eyes with a humanoid shape, but even then, I can't just spend my entire days fucking, Timberly, she's one of the pillars of the ocopeople also... ]
Rose: [ She will still be able to impregnate others, and there's a big population growth already anyway, so that's fine, no? ]
Erik: [ I suppose that's true... sigh, fine ]
Rose: [ Then why not have some fun? Lots of other octopeople keep inquiring about fucking you or getting fucked by you~ you should see how popular the porn videos from the database have become, they all seem to look for actresses as similar to you as possible jejeje~ ]
Erik: [ I guess asking for abstinence to the octopeople is like asking for rain in the desert, maybe we could make sex bots? they were popular on Earth ]
Rose: [ Nah, they would just fuck each other rather than a bot, you could have your own city at this rate jajaja ]
Erik: [ Rose, I'm a scientist and an explorer, and at some point, I need to go back to the stars and help Earth too, of course, I would love to if we all go together, but until everyone is well and safe, I would prefer not to think too long-term, that would only lead to confusion and regrets, comparing myself to imaginary expectations wouldnt help at all.]
Rose: [ Fine, let's have it your way, sigh... You are my friend and your goals are also my goals... we will arrive in some months, if you have nothing to do... after the movie, come to the lowest deck, I'm planning to install some Voith-Schneider propellers ]
Erik: [ Sure, see you after the movie, thanks, Rose ]
-- Back at the jungle ARK world --
Antonio was talking to the guardian
Antonio: "You said you recognized the signal."
The guardian hesitated: "…Yes. Lizarman armada... ID correspondent with lost fleet... they went to... attack a friend... entity designation AKR-312789... thought dead... most of my memories... lost... can't remember... more..."
Antonio: "That's plenty already, thanks." he tapped his coms "Everyone, I have something to say."
Minutes later, everyone gathered together, including Jannica.
Jannica: "What is it, Antonio? I was in the middle of taking a bath."
Antonio: "Do you have the coordinates that Grock pirate is going to?"
Jannica: "I do, here I will send you" tapping on a device on her wrist.
Jannica sent Antonio the coordinates and he showed them to the guardian.
Antonio: "Guardian, is it possible to reach those coordinates earlier than the pirates?"
The Guardian pondered for a moment: [possible... but need... more energy...]
Antonio: "Not enough energy, huh..."
Jannica: "Hmm, are you talking alone? well im not one to judge, but if you need more energy, I know where to get it easily."
Antonio: "Where?"
Jannica: "The pirates, of course, came here to loot. We just need to steal part of that loot, as many power cores as we can carry should be a good start. We will steal the good stuff, Argon-Steel V Power Cores, and if we can get a vehicle, even better."
Antonio: "Would that be enough, Guardian?"
Guardian: [Would need to... examine... to know...]
Antonio: "Well, it's a start, with that and a diagram of an engine, could you use the fusion energy?"
Guardian: [ deduction... pressurized Argon gas... deduction... magneto-inertial plasma fusion engine... feasible fuel... on this ship... multipurpose magnetic confinement reactor... fission to fusion... heat source... minimum requirement... plasma better fuel... ]
Antonio: "Alright, let's go steal some loot then."
Jannica: "Wait a minute, I believe I can be of a lot of help for this task~" her form becoming voluptuous and growing an extra set of hands
Antonio: "Do you have a plan?"
Jannica: "It's a simple plan, I distract the pirates, and you guys rob them, easy, right?"
Antonio nodded: "Simple enough, but we will help you if you are in danger, you are part of the crew now."
Jannica: "Much appreciated, but I'm quite good at distracting others, this is my favourite form for... group socializing~."
They moved the spaceship to a new location and hid it again. Luckily, the pirates were too busy looting an entire city to avenge their fallen.
Antonio, Elena, and Jannica infiltrated the city alone, leaving Monico to rest on the spaceship.
The city was by now a sea of blood and fire, craters covered the entire city, as the remaining survivors either surrendered, were captured as slaves, or fought to their death.
Jannica wore the clothes of a pirate commander as she dragged Antonio and Elena behind her, tied with a rope around the neck area of their spacesuits.
No one questioned them, and they easily arrived behind a huge building, entering an alley as Jannica cut their ropes loose.
Jannica: "Well, now this is the main storehouse that was spared from the bombardment, take as many cores as you can carry, I will go have some fun with the guards~" shaking her four arms in giddy excitement.
Antonio nodded to her and looked around, and saw a window they could climb. He set himself underneath it and put his hands together.
Antonio: "Come, Elena, I will help you up, and then you drag me."
Elena: "... let's do it the other way around, you are quite heavy, captain..."
Antonio shrugged: "As you wish" stepping on her hands as she propped him up.
Antonio easily climbed to the window and propped Elena up inside.
The warehouse was dark as the power in the city had been cut, with only emergency lights illuminating the darkness slightly.
Antonio: "Follow after me."
Elena nodded as they started checking the boxes around. Inside, they found provisions, guns, and finally, power cores.
Antonio: "Nice, this should do, I should be able to carry five, four will be better to do it quickly though, can you carry one?"
Elena nodded: "I think so."
Antonio: "Good, let's check on Jannica and-"
*AHHHNNN!*
At that moment, they heard a thunderous moan followed by clapping sounds as multiple voices cheered.
Elena blushed: "...I don't think she needs help."
Antonio sighed: "So it seems... well, since security is so lax, we might as well take more- oh?"
His eyes landed on what looked like a transport vehicle. Antonio got close to it, examining the small suttle. A cylinder with a frontal window and what appeared to be four jet engines on the corners. The vehicle was roughly eight meters long and five meters wide
Antonio: "Monico might have been better for this, but it's worth a try..."
Antonio entered the vehicle from an open door at the back. He reached the pilot seat and sat down, seeing a faint blue glow emanate from the headrest. The ship's neural sensors instantly bypassed the physical barrier of his spacesuit, projecting a complex heads-up display directly into his field of vision. It wasn't his suit's screen displaying the data, but rather the ship projecting the holographic telemetry straight into his optic nerve, waiting for his first thought.
Antonio chuckled: "So it's user-friendly technology, I like that a lot, let's see... are there any joysticks around-"
An earth-like spaceship control panel and joysticks were then displayed to him on a hologram from projectors on the cabin roof and panel.
Antonio: "Well then, it seems like piloting this will be easy after all."
An hour passed as they loaded the vehicle.
Jannice cleaned herself and stretched, cleaning the blood from her knife. She had disposed of all the pirated after draining them of all their energy.
She chuckled to herself: "Well, they died happy, so they can't complain, my skills are great after all~" She then pondered, "Antonio and Elena should be done by now, I should go look for-"
A voice behind her cut her train of thought.
Antonio: "It seems you are done, huh? And here I was coming to help you clean up, tsk tsk!" clicking his tongue.
Jannica was surprised, as she hadn't noticed him coming at all. If he had wanted to kill her, it would have been really easy, even with all her experience...
Jannica sighed: "Really, who are you? I have been working as a spy for almost eighty years. How could you move so silently?"
Antonio chuckled: "Sorry, an old habit while on a battlefield, jaja... makes one feel almost nostalgic, anyway, shall we go?" turning around.
Jannica followed him, confused, only to frown when she saw the vehicle.
Jannica: "Are you gonna drive that junk? It might be easy to drive, but it's slow. It's a transport shuttle only used in storehouses."
Antonio: "Well, it just needs a good pilot, that's all, now shit tight, it has a fresh power core, and it's ready to go."
Jannica sat in another seat beside Elena as the entire vehicle was now full with at least twenty power cores, as well as a crate of plasma and laser weapons that wouldn't run out of ammo, and lots of preserved foods.
Antonio sat down in the pilot seat and hummed happily as he tapped in the air on the hologram control panel.
Antonio: "Brace! Let's go!"
All the safety features had been removed as the vehicle launched forward, crashing through a wall.
The vehicle rocketed down the streets and alleys as pirates couldn't react fast enough to shoot at it, soon leaving the city and reaching their spaceship, they got the vehicle inside as they got down.
The jets on the corners were orange-red and cracking from the heat by then, but they had arrived extremely fast.
Jannica: "How did you, how did you do that? That's a cargo vehicle."
Antonio: "Equipment designed to last usually has a lot of limitations and safety systems, but that neural interface ensures the vehicle knows exactly what I want. It's really easy to pilot it then." he tapped the side. "Once Monico recovers, I will have him take a look at it. I like this system a lot."
Jannica chuckled: "Let's go visit a staryard planet together after this is over, and I will show you way better vehicles, maybe even drive around my personal spaceship I have at my home, a racing model~"
Antonio: "Oh, I would love that, I quite enjoy racing, I have the record for speed in simulations, so-" suddenly he composed himself " ejem, I mean yes, that sounds lovely."
Jannica: "So you like vehicles, I see, now we are getting somewhere, I thought you were made of stone or something~."
Elena: "Well, if you guys don't mind, I'm gonna go check on Monico, his meds should be wearing off about now."
-- Oceanic Ark --
Some months passed as they sailed the ocean.
The ocean stretched endlessly beneath storm-colored skies.
Erik stood at the front observation deck of the massive vessel as rain and sea mist battered the armored windows. Deep mechanical vibrations echoed through the hull while the electric engines pushed the ship forward through the dark waters.
Far ahead—
The lizardman capital reef rose from the horizon like a fortress-island forged for the end of the world.
Gigantic walls ringed the capital, extending far beneath the ocean surface while countless weapon batteries rotated slowly toward the approaching sea.
But the ocean surrounding it…
Was full of refugees.
Thousands of improvised boats drifted through the waves.
Fishing vessels.
Cargo platforms.
Broken military transports.
Entire floating neighborhoods crudely tied together from debris.
Every one of them was packed with terrified lizardmen fleeing the destruction behind them.
Far in the distance, smoke still rose from burning floating cities.
Cities Leo had destroyed.
Orbital bombardments had reduced military ports, shipyards, and industrial districts into flaming wreckage in order to cripple the lizardman war machine before the assault on the capital could begin.
But civilians had fled in every direction.
Now they all converged toward the only place they believed could still protect them.
The capital reef, the main city of lizardmen, their last hope.
And the capital was refusing them entry.
Gunfire rained from the walls as any boat that got too close was shot at, the civilians falling dead to the waters.
Warning sirens echoed across the walls.
Some refugee boats turned back in panic.
Others kept advancing anyway.
Desperate.
Starving.
Certain death behind them.
Possible death ahead.
Erik clenched his jaw silently.
Behind him, the ship groaned as something massive pulled against the reinforced towing chains at the bow.
Molly.
The sea leviathan's enormous silhouette moved beneath the waves ahead of the vessel, her body glowing faintly through the dark waters as she dragged the massive ship forward alongside its electric engines.
Her children swam nearby.
Dozens of them.
Smaller than their mother—but still the smallest was at least six meters long. They had eaten well and hunted plenty alongside the octopeople.
The juvenile leviathans circled the ship constantly like hunting sharks.
Anything that approached too closely died.
The ocean suddenly exploded beside the vessel.
A massive marine predator burst from the water, covered in armored scales and rows of metallic teeth capable of tearing through steel plating, attracted by the massive amounts of activity and blood in the waters.
It barely had time to scream.
One of Molly's offspring slammed into it midair with enough force to shatter its spine before dragging the creature beneath the waves in a frenzy of claws and blood.
Another alert sounded moments later.
More movement below.
Thousands of lifeforms.
Fast.
Aggressive.
The water around the ship began boiling with motion.
Then they appeared.
Swarms of marine predators surged upward from the depths.
Long bodies.
Hooked claws.
Mouths lined with rotating rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Some resembled reptilian eels.
Others looked closer to crustaceans fused with deep-sea horrors.
All of them moved with terrifying speed.
One creature leapt toward the hull of a lizardman ship.
Automated turrets instantly opened fire.
The creature exploded into pieces before impact.
Then hundreds more followed.
The sea around the ship erupted into chaos.
Molly's children attacked immediately.
The juvenile leviathans tore through the swarms with brutal efficiency, ripping creatures apart in sprays of black blood while automated combat drones launched from Erik's vessel in massive waves.
Thousands of drones filled the sky and sea alike.
Some hovered above the water, firing plasma bursts.
Others dove beneath the surface, illuminating the depths with flashes of blue light as underwater detonations shook the ocean around them.
Timberly stared at the combat feed: "…There are way more than before."
Rose's voice echoed calmly through the bridge.
Rose: "The closer we move toward the capital reef, the more active the monsters are..."
Another explosion rocked the sea.
A refugee ship vanished beneath the waves as dozens of creatures swarmed over it.
Screams echoed briefly through open comms before cutting out entirely.
Sarah looked horrified: "So many creatures near the capital…"
Rose: "Seems like they won't let anyone into the capital" she answered quietly.
Erik's eyes remained fixed on the capital.
Something felt wrong.
Not fear.
Pressure.
Almost like the ocean itself was becoming restless.
Then Rose spoke again: "The entrance to my primary core lies beneath the capital reef station."
A hologram appeared above the bridge.
Beneath the city…
An enormous abyss descended into the depths below the seabed itself.
Ancient structures surrounded it like buried machinery the size of continents.
Rose: "The passage's been sealed long ago," she continued. "After the lizardmen attacked, my generals locked the doors and blew up the access tunnels. We will need to take over the city first to get access and clear the rubble, though, after that, I can open the doors."
Another distant beam crossed the sky overhead.
Space Fortress Leo.
Its orbital weapons continued firing upon fleeing settlements and abandoned infrastructure surrounding the capital.
Everything except the capital itself.
Erik narrowed his eyes: "Still can't target the reef directly?"
Rose: "No," she replied. "The deeper structures beneath are delicate, so an impact like that could collapse the access..."
Erik: "At least we could bust the walls to let the monsters inside."
Rose: "That could work-"
The ship suddenly shook violently as hundreds of artillery rounds fell in front of them.
Rose: "We are out of their range but... "
*ZBOOM!!!* *ZBOOM!!!* *ZBOOM!!!*
Dozens of railgun rounds impacted the lizardmen batteries on the walls as chain explosions followed.
Rose: "They definitely are in our range~."
Erik tapped a cominicator: "Well then, Leo, do you think you can blow up the doors to the city without collapsing the structures below? "
Leo: *It will need a lot of calculations, but... LEAVE IT TO ME!!!"
A main cannon in the space fortress started the careful process of aiming from orbit, through a thick atmosphere, and so on. It was a really difficult shot.
The orbital targeting grids flared to life directly within Leo's primary processing core, a chaotic web of shifting telemetry, atmospheric density vectors, and thermal currents.
Deep within Leo's physical chassis—the spinal chamber of the space fortress itself—his main cannon groaned. Massive magnetic coils hummed, vibrating through his structural bulkheads as they built up a terrifying amount of kinetic energy.
Leo: *FIRING!*