Unknown Dusk Moon

Gideon

The storm of ash raged around them. The ground rumbled from the horror behind them.

The moon was maelstrom.

Gideon felt his senses come to, feeling dragged along the ashen wastes, the howling wind whipping around him, buffing his suit with a constant sand-paper thrum. He glanced around, unable to see much apart from swirling grey. He felt the stretch of cloth just beneath; a makeshift gurney. He felt he was being dragged head first.

“Good Gideon, are you alright?” Pat asked over comms just behind him.

He thought that over, remembering the chaos of the moments before. How he had no way of gauging the Dusk or the other threat. He let out a bark at feeling nanites repairing his inner ears. The tingling burning sensation was agony for a brief moment. A pop. Then he could hear the roaring wind.

The third party had almost killed him several times. Accidental or intentional, the monstrous beast didn’t appear interested in conversation. Nor did the Dusk. However, their antagonism proved useful, allowing him and the others to escape, screened by the ash and chaos.

He felt the ground tremor beneath him. Another asteroid impact thunder cracked through the storm. He felt a dull soreness quaking through him with each heartbeat.

“No,” Gideon announced as he paused, gazing into the ashen unknown, “we’ve lost.”

A slight whine answered him over the comms, “Gid, we need to get the ship so we can go fast again!”

“We can’t, Baxter,” Gideon stated with a sigh, “you saw what they could do- we can’t get near those things!”

“It is a disagreeable situation, but Gideon is correct,” Steak added, “we lack the numbers, technology, and supplies to strike against any Rumbler or those unknown lifeforms.”

Gideon remembered the hooded Dusk, swarming against the winged monster. Perhaps it was the enemy of the Dusk Shindow had described. Except it attacked anything without mercy.

Pat’s voice rang in. It sounded more feminine, “Stealth would be the best course of action.”

Gideon retorted, “I mean, they know we’re here. I expect we’ll be unable to sneak anywhere near them.”

He knew he had felt hope die then and was powerless to halt it. The truth of the matter was evident.

There was no escape. No happy ending. Captured by Dusk or killed by a monster. Or self inflicted fatality. Father was always opposed to such a measure, but being so close to the Dusk…

“Here- wait- I can move,” Gideon announced as he waved down his escorts.

Steak and Pat halted, allowing Gideon to gather his bearings, rising shakily to his feet. He scanned the storm for Baxter, finally seeing him catch up. He was behind them, low to the ground, swishing his long metallic tail along the trail.

He was covering their tracks.

Good dog.

Gideon marched behind Excertius, with Baxter in tow to cover the tracks. He suspected the howling storm would do it for him, but leaving anything to chance was what got them in this situation to begin with. Another tremor ran through the moon. They were still battling.

What the hell is the deal with this moon, anyways?

He had seen war films, massive battles and ground assaults. A single Rumbler could hold a planet indefinitely, if not a system. That laser was unlike anything he had ever seen, and no telling how far it could fire. Enough to sweep a city off the map and it was used on that winged monster. Going by the madness behind him, the battle still raged on.

Is this a penal colony? Are there more monsters? Or is it as stranded as we are?

“I am tired…” Baxter complained over comms. He was ignored.

“I am hungry…” He whined. He was still ignored.

The wind began to die down. The storm began to settle. Gideon gazed around the moon’s surface, seeing the cover they enjoyed was beginning to wane. He knew he had a solar bomb in storage. Just materialize it and click to end it all. The Dusk wouldn’t take him alive-

“Good Gideon, we are detecting a structure ahead,” Pat announced.

His sullen thoughts were graciously interrupted.

“Where? I don’t see anything…”

They travelled for a time before he spotted it, a dark silhouette formed in the clouds of ash. His heart stopped, thinking it was another Rumbler. He let his held breath out at seeing the green marble temple begin to take shape. He shivered, seeing the all too familiar marble stone his family used for much of their structures and decorations. Two angelic statues of marble, standing over seven feet stood sentinel to the even larger entrance. It was a structure meant for giants. The wind howled, catching against the temple and statues. Despite the raging ash, it was all still in pristine condition.

“Jesus,” Gideon muttered.

What else was the ash hiding?

“Shindow, come in.”

There was a brief blip on the communication, enough for contact. Shindow spoke, her voice filled with elated excitment.

“Gid! You’re alive! Any update?”

“Yes. We survived. There were two other parties and we all see each other as threats. We escaped in the chaos and found a structure. Sending images.”

Images sent!

“Whoa- wait that looks like Father’s marble!”

“Tell me about it,” he muttered, “what do you think?”

“Examining the images of that winged alien, the Rumbler, the satellites, that odd Dusk being that you shot at, and this temple, they all appear to be different. The Rumbler and Dusk satellites are allied, implying they are all Dusk tech. The monster shot down several of those drones while attacking you, and was fought by every party. Going off of that, I think it’s just three factions, the Dusk, that monster, and us. The ruins may be Dusk. I remember Father stating the loss of a shipment of that type of marble some years back.”

Gideon couldn’t remember, possibly still stuck in tutoring or training on Magara. There were too many questions. He scanned dusted horizon, seeing only the swirling of ash.

“We’ll talk more, be safe.”

“You too,” Shindow valdicted, ending the conversation.

He sighed. The temple was another mystery to add to the pile that he had little time for. Another foundation with a unique build to it. Perhaps a skeleton of the original owners of the planet. The storm began to recede.

He had no choice.

“We’re losing our cover… Steak, Pat, we need to secure the temple and lay low.”

“And nap,” Baxter added with a yawn.

“Good Gideon, we shall clear the temple and create a base camp,” Steak announced, swiveling his head to the entrance.

“Yes that would be good and we can have steak as well… I mean not you Steak but the other steak,”

Gideon turned to the power armored Baxter, who returned his stare with a cocked head.

“What?” the dog asked, his self awareness almost nonexistent.

Gideon shook his head, looking back to the temple entrance. QSD sent him a new update.

Message received from Shindow: Be safe.

A slight hint of warmth ran through him. As long as they were all good, he would keep going. His hope may have been snuffed out, but his crew and friends still depended on him. He tread to the first stair, having to climb it with his hands and feet. They were three feet in height, and six feet long. Excertius lept each step, filling Gideon with envy at their ease of movement. Baxter hopped along, tail swishing with each landing. They halted at the entrance, scanning into the dark. Steak and Pat led the way, rifles readied as they clicked on the mounted lights. Both Excertius’ bodies glowed with beams of LEDs, scattering the dark to the recesses. Gideon held out his hand, materializing a pistol in his palm. He snapped on his own lights, adding to the push. They scanned the front entrance, seeing the mounds of ash dust piled high against the walls. Gideon glanced down, seeing the slight dusting along the floor, as well as the boot prints. He glanced back to Baxter, seeing him slowly stamping long, swishing his tail against the floor, scattering the tracks.

“Good dog!”

Baxter let out a bark, wagging his tail at the compliment.

They scanned the threshold and front room to find it had split off into three distinct halls. Excertius were both surrounded by blue glowing light, changing configurations. They became tall and bulky, with two limbs, two shoulder mounts, and two swiveling hip arms. They looked more akin to moving bunkers than their previous agile selves. Steak gripped his beryllite tower shield and seven barrel tempest cannon. He sported two pulse rifle shoulder mounts, and two pistol wielding hip servo arms.

Pat was armed in a similar fashion, except with a strange glowing metal cane instead of a tempest cannon.

He was reminded of Amelia back in the hangar with her Excertius escort. It had felt like a lifetime ago already.

Everyone...

He was never going home.

“Good Gideon, which direction should we take?”

He was shaken from his thoughts. He felt exhausted beyond his limit and now had to make a choice.

“What do we have?”

“Scans indicate the hall to our left is long and narrow, going on for hundred meters,” Steak announced. “The right path branches into finer halls, rooms, and cubbys,” Pat added, “while the middle path descends downward.”

“I do not like this place,” Baxter let out a low whine.

Gideon called upon his gnats and the appeared, sporting vacant smiles.

“Go scout the halls, will you?”

“Hai, Ganbette!” they all saluted as they cried out, separately flowing down each corridor.

Gideon received the mental feedback, viewing three different ‘mind’s eyes’ as the gnats began investigating. The leftmost corridor was a narrow straight shot, forcing them to march single file. The rightmost corridor winded with cubbies, dead ends, and most of all; rooms.

He thought his order and the Gnat obeyed. There were no furniture or loose artifacts, but the relief wall was eerily similar to his bedroom on Karmmrak. The scene, from left to right, depicted A massive figure on a throne, his feet planted upon a sun as a footstool. Angels of all kind rushed to the right, battling with demonic horrors. In the center was a plain man with a hammer battling an angelic woman. He couldn’t tell if it was two factions or more that were depicted, as the angelic woman was different from the horrors. She belonged on the left side.

He remembered his dream.

Lucifer?

His fatigue was beyond his limit and thus the relief would wait. If the assault on the Rumbler told him anything, it was that he would now have a lot of free time hiding from the planet’s wardens now. Gideon decided he would inspect it later. Shindow would have a field day as no one had ever inspected Dusk structures. It was still uncanny to see their architect match Primetech’s.

The center Gnat proved useful as it descended down the long steps, into an amphitheater made for giants. Around the outer circle were lavatories, which appeared to be easily defendable. His major conclusion was that the temple was abandoned.

The Gnat on the left began to flicker from disruption. And then the view went blank.

“Yamaro!”

Gnat 02 has crashed

Gideon blinked, unable to understand why the Gnat died. That ruled out the left side, and warranted defenses to be erected. He canceled the right most Gnat, who had become lost in the labyrinth of rooms.

“Alright. My Gnat crashed on the left most corridor. My right most Gnat got lost. We’re going middle.”

“Steak and naps!” Baxter bayed, rushing down the center hall. His previous trepidation had disappeared.

“Baxter wait!” Gideon cried out as he watched the dog vanish down the sloping corridor. He lowered his hand, shaking his head as Excertius formed up.

“Before we go, let’s set a perimeter here and here,” Gideon explained as he pointed towards both the left and right corridors, “turrets, mines, whatever we got. Ignore the front entrance- don’t want to advertise we’re here.”

You have given Steak and Pat QSD permissions!

Excertius got to work, materializing a hastily made barricade of crawler turrets with equipped pulse rifles, tracker mines, and crate barriers, organized in such a way as to create a killzone for each entrance.

He nodded at that, feeling safer with both corridors contained.

Steak led with Pat in the rear. Gideon was comfortably in the middle, protected by two bunkers of beryllite. Stomping jingling rang out as Excertius’ advanced, their armor plating brushing against itself. Soft barking rang out from down the amphitheater, with Baxter having one last energetic romp until nap time. Gideon and his escort took a slow advancement, scanning for threats. He walked several steps before needing to descend the next stair. Every dozen steps, another walker turret was materialized, its steel-ball body unfolding into four stubby sphere quarter legs. It gripping arms grasped the pulse rifle contained as it waddled to the wall, aiming up towards the exit. They staggered the formation so as to not impede line of sight. Within time, they made it to the bottom, with Steak and Pat fanning out, scanning for trouble. They followed the obvious loping trail to a lavatory. Inside, Baxter was outside of his armor, digging into a pile of ash. The dog lept in, face first, his rump wiggling to dig deeper.

“Baxter, don’t play in that!” Gideon chastised.

The dog pulled his head out of the hole, his face caked in grey as he plopped to the floor. He blinked, giving Gideon a look as if someone had just told him to ‘smell the color seven’ or other ridiculous things.

Gideon’s hand glowed orange as he chose the perfect dinner; two Primetech rations of surf ‘n’ turf. He tucked one under his arm as he tore the package for one. Baxter quickly shook off the ash, licking his chops as he scurried to sit at his feet.

“I thought it was only nap time- this is the best day ever!”

Gideon placed the open container down and the dog pounced on it, furiously eating away.

He nervously worked his helmet, calmly breathing in and out as he unclicked the seal. The gorget between the helmet and suit hiss-squealed as the pressure released. He gripped it in both hands, pulling up and storing it away in orange light. He glanced about the room with his own eyes and breathed in, smelling ash and stone. The air felt impossibly fresh for a dead moon. The fact there was any air at all concerned him. Those were small details where the Dusk was concerned.

He degloved his hands, storing those away into QSD. He ran his fingers through his damp hair, feeling refreshed by the cool air. He sat down, opening up his own meal. He ate in silence, his mind numb at the horrors. Steak and Pat deployed a barricade with the last of the mines and turrets, keeping watch as two heavily power armored bunkers.

He finished off the meal and had seconds.

Thirds.

Fourths.

He felt like he could eat forever with those stims, but needed to conserve energy. He materialized a cot, and stripped off the armored suit down to his jumpsuit, feeling the sudden cooling open air overwhelm him.

He finished his meal, lying down on the cot as Baxter materialized his own bed, with the Hind power armor sitting against the wall. He thought back to the dreams, to the fight with the Dusk, and that third party. He ponder his moves, finding himself cornered. No brilliant plans or breakthroughs. He was stumped.

He lacked the hope to see anything other than defeat.

He drifted off with the desire for empty sleep.

He dreamed.