Seethkar, First Quarter, Andromeda Galaxy.

When the lights dimmed Mya was blind. She'd ripped off her goggles when light had flooded the room with the elder's arrival. She cursed and reached for them again, her eyes would take too long to adjust and even then, they'd do a poor job of it. When her googles hummed to life she glanced behind her and saw Nezerra sprinting away, using the cover of the blasts between the battling teams as a cover. She used low level laser blasts and cut through the roots, running at full speed.

Mya sucked her teeth and turned to follow, What the hell is she doing?

She ran hard, following Nezerra, pushing her body and suit. They wound through the labyrinth of dark growths. She was headed for the engine.

"Nezze!" shouted Mya.

Nezerra's head whipped around, and she slowed her pace a little. Mya's shorter legs caught up to her then. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Nezerra nodded her head forward, "I have the Tyrhung, and I'm going to be the one to plant it."

They ran around a sharp edge, Mya stumbled but recovered before she could fall onto her face. The pulsing red light grew, they were booth caught in its siren's song. They ran some more, the sounds and vibrations from the warfare growing soft. Mya pumped her arms and legs as they sped through the snaking pathways. Her side began to burn. Right when she was about to stop to catch her breath, the twisting roots cleared and a few yards away was the engine. She pushed herself, her heart pounding in her chest, her side protesting her movement. Nezerra burst out a laugh of exhilaration as they closed the distance.

What Mya had thought was a small sphere turned out to be gigantic marble, reaching toward the ceiling above. The air seemed to curdle as they drew closer, such was the power of the engine. Mya had learnt that it was responsible for the life on Seethkar, but she hadn't been able to actually visualize the engine. Her hood whipped back behind her, and the raw energy of it snapped about her, feeling like clawed hands trying to scrape away her sensitive flesh. The shadows within it swirled, large as snakes looking for their next meal. The air vibrated around them. The pulsing light illuminated them in flashes of red as they ran towards it. It reminded her of a caged beast brushing against its binds.

Something slammed into them both. They flew. Mya landed hard and heard bones creaking from the impact. Nezerra was sprawled on her side. They both looked toward whatever had hit them. There stood the elder, surrounded by three oversized Ajal. They must have belonged to the upper caste as they had one pair of horizontal horns protruding from their heads. The lower had none, while the elder had two pairs. Mya groaned and struggled to sit up. Upper caste Ajal were harder to kill, but it was not impossible. The Ajals rushed forward while the elder looked on with a bored expression. One grabbed Mya by her exposed braid and yanked hard, pulling her to her feet. She screeched in agony, the hairs feeling like they were being ripped from her head.

The engine pulsed and pain leeched through Mya's skull.

The Ajal cough laughed. Slime dripping from its maw that was dangerously close to her face. It held her close against its body and Mya felt his excitement grow as he tightened his grip. She shuddered. Nezerra struggled between the two other Ajal, one punched her across her face hard. She whimpered. Her sister whimpered. Something vast stirred in Mya at the sound. It was only then that the elder stepped forward. He closed in on Mya and she was trapped between the two beasts. She gathered her spit and spat it out. It landed on his sharp cheek. His misshapen lips split open wide in a poor imitation of a grin.

"Careful, I need you alive but not whole Amaryah." cautioned the elder, "I only need the part of you that breeds."

He wiped away the spit with his curled fingers and sucked it into his mouth. Bile rose in her throat at the sight. She struggled against the Ajal holding her as the elder's hard hands dragged over her face. His touch was revolting. She remembered the Horcus' warning then. This was the elder she'd warned about. Icy fear filled her veins.

"Don't touch me." she said through gritted teeth.

"I plan to do much more than touching with you." he said, and his glowing eyes turned toward Nezerra, "her on the other hand... well... I have no use for her."

He turned away and paused, "but my males do."

At those words, the Ajal holding her swung her to the floor, Nezerra screamed and struggled her elbow catching one of them in the nose. The male grunted and landed a hard blow to the side of Nezerra's head. Her struggles visibly lessened. The Ajal holding Mya moved forward to follow the elder and to take her away from the area. Mya screamed and bucked hard, fighting against the beast that held her. He bit down on her shoulder, his teeth tearing into her flesh through her suit. The scream that tore from Mya was of another world. He ripped them out and moaned his pleasure. She heard his teeth crunching as he savored her flesh. Mya wretched but nothing came up. Nezerra's combat suit along with some of her sensitive scales were being ripped away by the males in their haste, their swollen staffs exposed as they fought to take her. One of them hit her again and the sound that came from her sister's lips as she went limp caused Mya to break.

She reached into herself and grasped at the strands of her gift, and desperately pulled. Hard.

Everything seemed to slow. The humming of the engine stopped. Nezerra's assailants froze, Mya's capturer let her go, arms slipping away. The heat lancing through her shoulder faded. Mya's eyes were fixed on the engine as the swirling inside intensified. The orb became a deep unending black. Mya watched, transfixed as the energy inside shuddered. Her power flew from her toward it, and the engine greedily sucked at it, draining her.

The casing for the engine broke apart.

Her power struck the elder, an arch of energy reaching from her like a glittering spear, soaring toward him. It disappeared into him as it made contact. She did not know what it did, but he doubled over, clutching at his head and roared, his rage palpable. Everything sped up again and Mya was once again in the moment. The black tendrils within the engine snaked out, reaching for them.

"What have you done!?" screamed the elder, his eyes wild but dimmer than before, something black and gooey leaked from his flat nostrils.

He backed away. "It will consume us all!"

The Ajal that had held her shoved her hard and scampered after his leader who crawled away on all fours like a beast. The two males were so fixed on Nezerra, so lost in their lust that they hadn't noticed what had happened. One shoved at her opening while the other leered over her face, trying to force himself into her clenched mouth, his claws embedded into her arms held her still. Nezerra just gazed upwards as if in a haze, eyes glinting in the red glow.

Mya winced as she pulled out her blaster, her head and shoulder pounded so hard she thought she could see black spots across her vision. Her gift was completely drained, it left her feeling empty and weak. She pressed the trigger. It fired, killing the males. She dropped to her knees at Nezerra's side. She heaved the Ajal that had fallen partially on top of Nezerra, grunting from the weight of the lifeless body.

"Nezze, we need to go now!" she screamed, trying to pull her to her feet. "Nezerra! Get up!"

Nezerra seemed to snap out of the trance that she'd slipped into and tried to stand, moving clumsily. She leaned on Mya heavily, blood seeped from her arms and legs. Mya gritted her teeth against the pain swamping her at Nezerra's weight.

"The Tyrhung!" Nezerra whispered and held it out to her. She shivered, her suit mostly rags and hanging off her, leaving her exposed. Some of her flesh beneath her scales were exposed and leaking thick fluid.

Mya took the Tyrhung from her hand and gingerly arranged Nezerra on the wall. She still swayed on her feet. The head injury from the blows of the Ajal leaving her disoriented. Mya looked wildly around, hair whipping behind her. She felt the energy building, lashing at her. She planted the Tyrhung near a broken root that had fallen off the engine during its first energy release. Not entirely sure what it could do at this point. The sphere had doubled in size and was near where she and Nezerra had been intercepted. There was no sign of the elder or his high caste soldier. The black tendrils snaked out to envelop anything near it. Mya didn't know what had made the engine, but she knew a high-powered nuke when she saw one. It exploding hadn't been in the plans at all. Who knew how far reaching the explosion of a planet engine would be? She rushed toward Nezerra trying to ignore the spiking pain in her head. They stumbled and ran forward, leaning on each other.

"Zogan!" Mya screamed as they ran back the way they had come.

Her voice was lost under the roar of blasts coming from up ahead, her throat was raw and hurt from her shouting. They moved, Nezerra seemed to gain some of her strength back and propelled them forward putting distance between them and the expanding engine. They wound through the roots, Nezerra following some sense of direction that Mya did not have. She would've been lost in the overgrown dark roots for sure. She was thankful that they'd blasted through the growths earlier, crawling over them in their condition would not have been an option.

The ground shuddered beneath their feet as the engine continued to gain momentum. Nezerra pulled out one of Mya's blasters as they neared the shooting ahead, letting go of Mya who cursed loudly as she swayed on her feet, she groaned and pressed her fingertips to her temple. Her left shoulder was completely useless, held in place by her power suit that had reknit over her wounded area and was definitely working to dampen some of the pain. She gripped a blaster tightly in her other hand though, ready to fight her way to her team and their waiting escape. If one was still possible with the imminent blast. They looked at each other briefly and then rounded the corner before them.

Plasma blasts fired in rapid succession, narrowly missing them. Nezerra shot back, pushing Mya to the ground to protect her, and placed herself firmly in front of her. Mya's head throbbed.

"Nezze don't-!"

Someone grabbed her from behind and lifted her off the rough ground. She screamed, her throat pulsed with pain, and she tasted blood. She tried to lift her blaster, but her attacker ripped it away from her. Mya cursed - a long filthy sentence. She couldn't catch a fucking break. She remembered her gloves then and flicked out her four inch claws. She swiped downward and fell to the ground, her attackers arm coming away with her still clutched around her midriff. She tore it away and snarled whirling towards her attacker. The lower caste Ajal leered, and she heard Nezerra grunt as she squeezed off shots behind her trying to kill the Ajal blocking their way to the rest of their team up ahead. Sweat dripped into Mya's eyes as she looked up at the disgusting beast before her. Red light glowed through the cavern underworld.

Mya's eyes bounced toward the blaster lying near the Ajal's foot. So much to do so little time. She rushed forward - reaching for it, ignoring the searing pain shooting through her shoulder. The Ajal reached down and grabbed for her, but Mya was ready. She twisted and reached up with the blade she'd slid free during her lunge forward. She swiped it up and across and watched as the thing's head thudded to the ground. The body started to fall toward her and Mya screeched as she rolled onto her injured shoulder to get out of its way. She grabbed the blaster and joined Nezerra shooting at anything that moved before them, pushing forward slowly. They ducked and weaved through the roots, using them as cover. They started to thin, soon they would be out in the open.

She caught sight of Ravanna ahead and screamed his name, his head swiveled toward them as he plunged his blade deep into the chest his opponent. The floor around him was littered with body parts of the enemy. He aimed his blaster and fired, efficiently hitting the two remaining Ajal that were trying to sneak an attack on them squarely in the head. They exploded and splattered across them both, but they paid it no mind. They were already covered in bits and pieces of the fuckers anyway. They ran, joining Ravanna as he motioned them over.

"We have to get the hell out of here." shouted Mya. "The planet engine is unstable!"

Ravanna's face was grim, he turned and led them forward, setting a hard jogging pace. Her lungs screamed for rest. Mya forced herself forward, her breathing ragged. She would think of the consequences to her body afterward. She just wanted to get out of there. Her suit powered her movements and added some stability to her shoulder, she tried to hold it stationery as she ran. It would have to do for now. The team up ahead was spread thin, but the Ajal were mostly dead or writhing on the floor.

"The remaining Ajal just turned and left," said Azazel, he looked toward the spreading red energy enveloping the roots a way off, "we need to go, now!"

"Where's Zogan?" Mya scanned around her wildly.

Azazel's nearly black eyes snapped to her, "He and Mara went looking for you both." There was a sharp reprimand in those words. Mya ignored it – she would have time to feel bad later.

"Oh for fucks sake!" exclaimed Mya she turned to go after them, but Ravanna grabbed her good arm, "They will return when they don't find you... I will send him a ping on his wrist comm, but we need to get out of here now!"

He forcibly pulled her forward and she stumbled after him. The ground now steadily shaking beneath their feet as they ran. Ravanna's hand stayed firmly attached to Mya's as he led her onward. They reached their entry point and looked up at the swirling thick liquid that showed through the covered hole they'd made in the metal ceiling. One of their teammates hopped up and ripped off the covering that they'd left. Mya reached for her suit cylinder only to find it missing.

Ravanna turned and pulled out a mask from a satchel on his back. He fastened it to her face and said without any sympathy, "You'll have to swim without the suit."

Mya shuddered at the thought of entering the thick viscous liquid bare. She had no choice though. She only had a short chance to look around for Zogan before Ravanna picked her up and pushed her towards the ceiling. Using her good arm, she grasped at the ragged edges and Ravanna boosted her upwards until she was able to scramble into the opening. Azazel, holding an also bare Nezerra to him waited, floating in the liquid above. Mya held her breath and jumped, Azazel pulled her through.