The Realm of Infinite Stars

Luna searched the sides of the ship for a good minute before sighing and pulling out one of the laser cutters from the bag she carried. She put the setting on a highly concentrated beam and started to slowly cut away a small square from the side underside of the ship.

Illiander paused when he heard the sound of metal being torched open. Looking over he noted Luna crouched over cutting open the ship. "Or that works too, hey Luna when'd we pick up the laser cutters?" He asked walking over to oversee his sisters progress. Illiander sighed as he watched how easily the rusty and weak old laser cutter sliced the metal of the Zaradin Ship. "Man, Zaradin ore really is crap, I hope this thing has good shields otherwise 1 wrong move and we're done. We might wanna try and find something else after we get off this rock. Maybe even something Reigos made." Illiander smiled pleasantly as Luna cut open a small hole in the ship.

Luna easily caught the square of metal as it came loose from the hull and pushed it inside to rest on the floor of the inside of the ship. That way, she can patch it up once both her and her brother were in the Zardian craft. Luna pulled herself up through the hole, and stuck her head back through it, staring at her brother while up side down. "Lil bro, does stealth mean nothing to you? Anyway, get in here and see if you can pilot this heap. Then we get off this planet and maybe find something that can stand up against a 5 year old laser cutter."

Illiander couldn't help but to chuckle at his upside down sister. "It does." He pulled himself through the hole. "When it's needed at least." He added. "Okay let's see. here, woah." He said staring at awe at the internals of the ship, various cables and wires ran through the walls of the ship supplying power to the lights which where in the floor. The interior much like the exterior had a reddish hue. Walking through it he muttered to himself the various rooms. "Let's see, this must be the medical station." passing a room pull of medical equipment, various devices littered within. He'd have time to figure those out later, but for now he needed to find the cockpit. " Luna split up, let's see if we can find this ships cockpit. Then I'll see if I can pilot it." Running his hand along the wall he walked down the curved hallway. He could feel himself smiling at the feel of the cool metal of the ship’s hull.

Luna welded the sheet of metal back over the hole. It bore scorch marks but was otherwise unnoticeable. Being a lot more careful than her brother, Luna explored the small ship looking for the bridge. She found living quarters with thankfully no one there, and a mess hall. After a bit, she found what looked like the control room. "Hey, Illi! I think I found the cockpit." She inspected the controls a bit closer. "Bro...Why does it look like this ship has to be piloted by two people?"

Illiander rushed over to Luna when she heard of her successful search. "Oh hey You found it! oh uh eye?" He asked looking through the small cockpit, lots of instruments gleamed slowly pulling him into his fantasy world again. "Oh uh/" he shook his head breaking free from his mental illusions. "Because it uh.... has two chairs in it?" He asked casually with little care. as he immedietly turned his attention to everything else, flipping the switches trying to turn the ship on.

Luna slapped her face with her palm. "You dont get the gravity of the situation do you? Yes, there are two chairs. One for the helm and one for the guns. How many big red ants did we see earlier? Only one. Now..." she looked seriously at her brother. "Where's the other one?"

Illiander's eyes widened in realization. "Uh oh." he muttered. "We need to scour this ship just in case, bring laser cutters to be safe." He grabbed himself one. Clearly the gravity of the situation was making Illiander nervous. He didn't want to lose his prize after coming so close to acquiring it. "If we find the Zaradin bug, aim for his eyes. Then we can take him down for sure." He said marching out of the cockpit wielding a laser cutter.

Luna sighed and set her back down by one of the cockpit chairs. Finally, her brother understood. She set her laser cutter to an easily dispersible beam, but thought better of it and set it to a more lethal setting. Better him than us, she thought. Luna set off in a search pattern to look for the alien that might still be on the ship.

Illiander walked through the medical room, he knew the bug wouldn't be in here unless he was hurt. Maybe Illiander was just hoping to avoid a conflict. He looked to his feet thinking quietly to himself. He had never killed before, despite the cruel and harsh conditions he lived in. Illiander frowned, but he had to kill this bug. After all it stood in his way, the way of his dreams. He was lost in though and didn't notice a large shadow loom over him with malice. A soft clacking was background noise to his ears.

Luna went to the opposite end of the Zaradin ship from where Illiander went off to search. She was taking a closer look at the cabin when she noticed that it did look like someone had recently vacated it. So there is another bug...and its on the ship. Luna immediately looked over her shoulder, her cautious nature making her more alert. There was nothing there. Then a sudden thought struck her. Illi never looks behind! she dashed away from the cabin, her feet sliding on the brushed steel floor. She grabbed at door frames and instruments bolted to the walls to push herself forward. He never covers his back!. Luna reached the medical bay in only seconds, and immediately flung herself onto the back of a what looked like a giant red ant on two legs. The other Zaradin pilot. "Get away from my brother!"

Illiander turned immediately from the crashing noises behind him. "Ah Woah!" he called out upon seeing his sister tackling the Zaradin Pilot. He was now on the ground clacking his mandibles in a furious anger. "Oh jeez sis watch out!" He pounced upon the Zaradin's arms holding him down. Unfortunately Illiander had no idea that like ants Zaradin were quite strong and hardy.

"Zzzz Peskts!" Illiander heard a clacking almost static like voice. When suddenly Illiander felt his feet leave the ground, and his eyes widened in terror. The Zaradin had lifted both him and his sister, one clawed insectoid arm for each of them. Illiander began to kick his feet into the Zarad's chest, his heel with with a hard metal like shell.

Luna fumbled for her laser cutter, almost dropping it in her haste. The Zaradin's claws only held onto her torso, not her arms. She lifted the laser but couldnt aim very well. The beam went wide and on grazed the ant on the side of it's skull.

The Old cutting torch couldn't slice through the Zarad's thick armoured skull, but the sparks that flew off from the blast flew into the alien's unprotected eye socket causing it to let go of the siblings to flail in pain clutching it's eye. Illiander dropped to the ground and seized his opportunity, reeling his leg back her let loose a kick of such ferocity into the Pilot's leg joint that he knocked him down to the ground. Quickly clambering to his feet Illiander grabbed hold of his Laser torch.

Luna rolled across the metal deck of the ship, fumbling with her laser cutter as she got to her feet. She took careful but brief aim at the Zaradin's head and fired, hoping it would hit.

Illiander looked over to Luna with a strange almost panicked excitement. " his eyes don't have armour on them!" Hoping this piece of advice would help the now criminal duo take down the alien.

The hot concentrated beam struck where the Ant's thorax would be causing the Zaradin pilot to howl in pain.

Luna held down the button to charge the beam, stepped right up to the Zaradin, and let the highly concentrated beam fly through the air right into the alien's eye socket. The beam was on the highest setting and surely would have pierced its skull and friend its brain in milliseconds.

"GSSSZZZTTTTTTTRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH" The Zaradin was howling and screeching in pain and agony, the worn out laser cutters charge function not functioning as it should. Rather than a quick death, the Zaradin died slowly and painful. His body convulsing and boiling yellow rustic coloured blood sped from the eye socket. Like an ant under a micro scope the pilot writhed in pain before finally freezing in place in his horrified painfiled state.

Illiander's eyes stared wide in horror at the scene before him. The ants horrifying death had struck him deep inside. Instantly he turned away and puked into a waste paper basket.

Luna stood panting over the pilot's lifeless body, the adrenaline in her system still causing her heart to hammer uncontrollably. The yellow blood started to pool around Luna's feet, and she quickly stepped away. Thinking quickly, she grabbed hold of one of the pilot's arms and began to drag it towards the trash chute.

Illiander slowly got up grabbing hold of the wall for support as he slowly made his way to the cockpit of the ship, not looking back to the dead pilot.

What happened to this?