Star Warden Book 2: RQ Chapter 4

Desert Guardians

A burst of prismatic light manifested onto the desert sands of the planet Ramia. The Star Warden stepped out with Kaguya and Bridget. It was night and a bright red moon was in the sky. The beauty of that vision was ruined as their noses were assaulted by the smell of burning oil. They rushed over to the source of the smell and saw a burning oil field with a crumbling refinery surrounding it.

“When she said it was a desert planet. I wasn't expecting to walk into Desert Storm: alien edition.”

Kaguya normally understood Sam's Earth jokes. This one completely escaped her and Sam was not inclined to explain it. The joke was more for him.

In the shadow of the flames several vehicles were fleeing being chased by SWAT-carriers with sirens shrieking. From Sam's visor, his night vision spotted the fire-starters in question driving some sort of hovering skiff. The natives of this world were not Faeries or Milesians but some sort of humanoid feline. From this distance, he could not tell if it was fur or just dark skin on their bodies. But their ears had a mix of feline and elven features, most likely due to having a common ancestor with the Milesians.

The Warden wasted not a second more and took flight, with the rockets in his boots giving him a boost. Using his talisman he loaded his fusion canon program. Wireframe vectors appeared on his right arm and then the cannon took a three-dimensional shape. It was of a sleeker design along with being black and gunmetal grey. One-shot destroyed a carrier.

Bridget let loose an arrow that exploded into a swarm of green orbs. The carriers responded with missiles. Burning the swarm away in but an instant. Kaguya focused on protecting the skiffs with her barrier. Hiding in the smoke the Warden managed to get behind one of the carriers.

Using his ray gun as a plasma torch he burned through the closed ramp in the back. A shield program took the blasts letting him charge through and destroy the robots with his blade. Then executed a new program that started assuming control over the vehicle. A gift from Peace made from all his experiences dealing with Daimos's systems.

Once in control, he opened fire on the other carriers shredding them in seconds. Peace's virus sent out an all-clear signal which turned off the sirens, which would ensure reinforcements would not follow.

Escorted by the pirated SWAT-carrier the feline rebels stopped by a dry riverbed. Sam noted that the riverbed was large and looked artificial more like a canal than a natural formation. The feline aliens themselves were indeed more skin than fur. This group was a mix of black, bronze, and copper-red skin with a pattern of white spots on their faces. Covered in loose armor and clothing designed for the hot weather.

“Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong.” The universal greeting. Which Sam recognized and returned immediately. The armor's translation system used the voice sample provided by the greeting to remove the language barrier. While the greeting itself made sure that both sides knew they were not hostile. Bridget and Kaguya unfamiliar with the gesture just looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. 

“Thank you for the rescue.” One of the more copper red felines said. “My name is Jeremias. Guardian Corporal Junior Grade.”

“Samuel Bailey. Star Warden. But you're free to just call me Sam.”

“Thank you again, Sam.” Sam internally cheered at that. Another victory for him not being referred to strictly by rank.

“There's another way you can thank me beyond words. Take me to your leader.”

Jeremias arched an eyebrow. “You don't look like a refugee. But we can take you to the Haven. No guarantee you will see the King.”

“Please inform His Grace that we are allies to his cause and are on urgent business.” The alien cat man turned to Kaguya and his eyes widened.

“Pure white locks and those eyes?” He spoke the words with such reverence. “Emissary?”

“My name is Kaguya Bailey. Princess of Summer and Celestial Emissary.”

The felines immediately took to one knee. “Please forgive us, Your Radiance.”

“Stop. This is no time to stand on ceremony. We can not be out in the open lest we are discovered.”

“Yes. Of course, Your Radiance.”

“Sam. I'm going off to the Oasis.”

He turned to Bridget. “You sure you want to go there by yourself?”

“I know how to find it and you'll have the scroll in hand after your business is finished.”

“Stay frosty.”

“Nah. I'm a deep roots kind of girl. They don't get frosty.” Bridget changed form into a mole and then dug her way through the sand. Sam chuckled at the fact she was starting to sound more like she was from Earth.

The two left with the local freedom fighters traveling down the large riverbed into a series of canyons. There was a brief argument on if they should be blindfolded or not which was ended when they volunteered to be blindfolded. The skiffs came to a stop and then a long walk down a tunnel until the blindfold was taken off.

“Welcome to the Guardian Haven.”

An underground bazaar sprawled out before them. Illuminated by glowing stones in the walls and ceiling. Mismatched metals made walkways that stretched to the top of the cavern and neon advertising signs glowed from one end of the cave to another. His HUD translated the names of the various products but he disregarded them. As his mind was focused on getting some of the meat.

He made his way through the packed streets. Despite being an alien no one really made note of his presence. Kaguya got most of the attention especially from the young kittens who wanted to touch her hair. It did let him get to the stall easier as a word from her meant people let him go first.

The cook there made him a burger with a delicious red sauce poured on the meat. He paid the cook with some gemstones and even machine parts he brought back from Aetherium. The meat was discovered to be made from rats but Sam didn't care about that, it tasted good and he hadn't had a burger in a long time.

After the impromptu meal, they were taken deeper into Haven where they were introduced to King Benjamin. A brown-skinned feline with hair in shape of a lion's mane and a lion's face emblazoned onto his breastplate. Though aside from that and a fur loincloth there was not much in the way of armor. He sat upon a throne of stone carved in the shape of a lion's head.

“So, this is the one that saved you, Jeremias. If this scrawny puke can fight the machines then It looks like the Dark Lord is getting sloppy.”

Sam scoffed. “Scrawny?”

“Yeah, scrawny. The polite way of saying: you look like something a light breeze could blow over.”

“Well from all the hot air you're blowing. I assume you speak from experience.”

Benjamin growled. “You should be careful what you say, small one! I am King here.”

“That's fine you play King all day and this scrawny puke will do the heavy lifting for you. Don't want to interrupt your nap time.”

Benjamin rose to his feet and Sam gained perspective on the scrawny comment. The feline king was just under seven feet tall and had muscles that could break stone with a simple flex. The room became tense as he drew a glowing ax from his throne. The Warden reached for Dawnbringer and the guards readied their spear blasters. Kaguya remained calm, she could tell what would happen next.

His Grace broke out laughing and the room started to relax. “You have claws, Star Warden that speaks well of you. I have been expecting you for some time.”

“You have?”

“The Sprites informed me that you and the Emissary would arrive seeking my aid.”

“We do, Your Grace,” said Kaguya. “The city contains information that will be vital in our effort in defeating the Dark Lord. We request any and all aid you can give us. We will reciprocate however we can.”

“I will not turn down aid from the Gods. What do you require of me?”

“The location of a Tuatha facility where we can download a runic script cipher. With it, the Star Warden can read the language of our forerunners.”

“I believe I know such a place. There is a temple that my archivists have studied. It may contain what you seek. Though we have no way of activating their machines.”

“Biometric security in place most likely. Luckily the machines will recognize me as a Tuatha and will activate.”

“What proof do you have to make such a bold claim?”

Sam drew Dawnbringer from its scabbard. All in the court gasped and began to talk among themselves. Shock and Awe filled the king as looked at it. “The Sword of the Morning! The songs of our people spoke of it.” The King raised his hand and silence descended upon the chamber. Eye cast downwards in reverence to the sword.

Sam hid his feelings of fear at the moment. The fear of being unworthy of the praise they gave to him through this sword. A part of him felt that a greater legacy than he was aware of had fallen upon his shoulders. It would not be long before he would learn his place in that greater legacy. Dawnbringer was more than what any bard's song or scholar's research notes could ever convey.

The King then spoke his voice softer but no less authoritative. “Star Warden, If you wield the Dawnbringer then I will aid you fully. The location of what you seek is being excavated by the machines. Jeremias and a few of my warriors will protect you while my Guardians launch an attack nearby.”

A moment was not wasted as the Guardians were mobilized for combat. They had much more heavy equipment than the Free Realms possessed. Including a massive armory of vehicles at their disposal connected to the Haven via rail systems. Built so deep into the canyon that the Domain's sensor technology could not detect it. Some of this equipment was transferred from other bases but much of it was here before Daimos's invasion.

The Guardian Haven was itself a military base built into the canyon to protect a long lost colony ship that crashed hundreds of years ago. This very canyon was created by the crash which buried the ship underground. Only partially excavated by the native people a century ago.

Sam made a mental note to ask if he could see the ship after they returned. Such a ship meant other people were traveling the stars. If he could find parts or maybe a full ship he would be able to travel the stars to find them. Hopefully, they would be allies or at least he could convince them to be allies to overthrow Daimos and find the rings.

Hanger doors opened up and the engines of VTOL craft roared to life. The red moon was taking its leave of absence and the world entered into the brief hour of predawn darkness.

******

The Dark Lord received a message from his forces on Ramia informing him of a Star Warden sighting.

“Most unexpected.” His cold tone was laced with a hint of frustration. He was sure the Warden did not possess the means for interstellar travel. “However, unexpected complications lead to unexpected opportunity. Sonia, bring up file RG324 and send it to my Archon.”

“This unit is programmed to advise you that this is a one-use plan. Are you certain you wish to execute this operation?”

“Affirmative. If that insect is here then he must be going after the same prize. It will also allow me to remove a king and his army from the board with one pawn. Execute RG324 with the necessary modifications.”

“Executing operation.”

Daimos turned to a holographic chessboard but the pieces on the white side were replaced with King Benjamin as king, Samuel Bailey as a knight, and Princess Kaguya as a cleric, along with the Guardian rebels forming the rest.

“Soon I won't have any more obstacles.” An evil laugh followed that statement.

Chapter 5

Chapter 3