3rd Arch Royal Expeditionary Force - Day 5

Captain Harpee didn’t care much for the forest. It was dense, it was buggy, and yet it still was a nice departure from the colony.

With the sun high in the early afternoon sky, today marked the fifth day of their journey. Her motley entourage was headed toward what they had hoped would be a colony ship, albeit one that was likely more derelict than intact. A fleet of these ships had made the harrowing journey and put their people ‘on ice’ to inhabit a new world. This was because the old one had been left for dead, but the people here didn’t talk about that much. Not a whole lot was known about the new world, but the brains behind it all seemed to think they could terraform it, colonize it and start over. Problem was, when the ships hit the atmosphere of this planet they didn’t survive long. No one really knew for certain what happened but there was no shortage of hearsay; computer problems, excess gravity, an alien force. She didn’t like dabbling in conspiracy. Besides, space wasn’t really her expertise anyway. She had a business to run and that business was ‘very official’.

Hailed as the 3rd Arch Royal Expeditionary Force, Captain Harpee’s group wasn’t the third of anything. The name didn’t make a lick of sense, but the empire could name them whatever the hell they wanted to since it gave them a free pass from the hassle of guards who patrolled outside the colony. Those same guards were also known to confiscate some of their supply or lock one of them up for insubordination prior to that seal of approval. With that official decree from the empire, their ‘3rd Arch Royal Expeditionary force’ was really the first and only game in town. That game was a dangerous one however, tracking down the remnants of the fleets that burnt up in the atmosphere of their new home.

“Half a day out you suppose?” her lieutenant, simply sticking to the nickname LT, muttered as he swatted at an oversized bloodsucker. The mottled corpse of the bug left a dark red streak across his leather-worn neck as he pulled his hand away.

“Thereabout, full day at most, at least given where I think we are.” she replied. “Make sure you’re swapping out the driver on that hauler too, it gets hot out here and we don’t need him passing out again” she grumbled.

“Fid is a coward and would live in that mech if he could. No bathroom innit though so he’s gotta come out sometime. I’m onnit cap.” he said with a salute and a half-cocked grin before storming off in the direction of their beat-up hauler mech.

The maps she was trying to approximate weren’t exact but they were at least something. If the empire hadn’t gutted most of the remnants of the ship for terraforming, she might have a ship that could scout and find crash sites easily from the air. Instead the empire sent them on a wild goose chase, exploring a brave new world like Sir Francis Drake. Just with no boat, no clue and on foot instead of cruising at a decent speed. Luckily, she had several benefactors in the colony and they also had an interest in finding the fallen remnants of humanity’s attempt to conquer the stars.

The group who took up residence in the one working colony ship that hovered over the city were ugly as shit, but they were resourceful. With all the radiation it was a miracle that they kept enough of their wits to somehow decode and reconstruct the flight paths sent back to fleet command. From that they were able to estimate entry points for the other ships in their fleet and even extrapolate crash sites. Wasn’t perfect, but it gave them that rough estimate.

That group of poor irradiated souls also proved to be another customer among an ever growing list of clientele. Weapons, parts, medical supplies, scrap metal, books, all had a buyer lined up and ready to bid against each other. This is where Captain Harpee shined. She was good at playing their bids off each other just enough to profit but not so much that they turned on her. None the wiser and the riches flowed.

As they pressed closer to their estimated crash site, the trees grew dense, she and her group of 11 expeditioners and Fid in the mech having to weave between them. The mech wasn’t exactly nimble either. Barging through trees with a crack of splintering trunks that sent the strange wildlife scampering or taking flight from the noisey onslaught. She couldn’t help but sigh in frustration. They needed that mech in case they actually did find and haul valuable wreckage but it did them zero favors in keeping a low profile.

There was a very good reason people didn’t venture outside of the colony. It wasn’t just because breathing got a bit harder and the apparatus tended to chuff the inside of your mouth and leave sores. Brigands were rumored to have eyes throughout the southernmost woods and leave for you dead if you had ever so much as complimented the queen’s dress. Dangerous otherworldly beasts roamed the woods as well. While the mech doubled as a deterrent for that, she had less than zero faith in the current state of their mech driver. Worst of all, there were rumors of winged beasts in the skies snatching citizens who didn’t travel in groups. While their force was pretty helpless if a “drake” decided to gnash them limb from limb, they were still on the list of reasons people stuck so close to the colony ship. Sure others can venture out but they’re more likely to encounter a quick death than hit the motherlode; unless you were part of the 3rd Arch.

Another crack of a stump and a tree fell as they moved down an embankment, the sun beginning to fall from overhead and slip behind the tree line. The ground was soft in the little muddy valley, making her boots sink with each eager step.

Another crack and a sharp thud of a tree that shook the ground. Branches rained down into her sun streaked blonde hair. Her frustration got the better of her, turning sharply to yell at Fid, “You stupid moron, keep some distance or I’ll…”

She cut herself short as she saw the mech toppled over, face first in the mud. The arms were attempting to rotate but were stuck deep in the ground, pistons whirring wildly. Smoke rose from the futile spinning joints, proving the mech to be incapacitated.

“Fucking hell Fid, I told LT ‘it’s hot, swap the driver’ and here you are two seconds later, passing out again like an idiot and wrecking our hauler! You’re done, I’ve had it.” She stepped closer to the behemoth, ready to backhand her stubborn pilot. As she got closer though, she saw that the tree had done more damage to the mech than the other way around.

Kneeling down her toes sunk deep into the soft earth, tilting her head to check on Fid. The glass splintered on the inside of the cockpit and blood trickled down from a splatter against the messy web of cracks. Sneering at the blood, she undid the emergency hinges and tried to engage the hatch but couldn’t, waving LT over to pull in unison from the other side. As they struggled the rest of the crew suddenly began to circle, a steady uneasy commotion as they tried to survey the situation.“...not snapped like the rest, just fell…”“Fid has some terrible luck. Last night at cards he..”The hatch disengaged and she started to drag Fid out, the poor kid’s head split open from the impact. A sigh of relief as he appeared to be breathing though he looked less than a picture of health.

Then a sudden shot fired.

Firearms rose from the crew as both she and LT hid behind the downed mech. More shots firing, those bullets only to be used in case of dire emergency. Out here though, everything seemed like a damn emergency.

“Oh come on...” she muttered to LT. Abruptly launching herself to her feet and standing tall she yelled with bravado, “Hold fire find cover you stupid bastards! What the hell is it!”

“We saw movement!” A lanky kid named Lawrence shouted back, a tremor in his voice, the revolver still pointed into the brush.

A stillness hung over the valley. The only noise as the last echo of gunfire subsided was the wind, whistling and rustling through the greenish-yellow leaves. Nine firearms leveled into an empty wood. A sudden gust sent a scatter of leaves flying toward them and she saw a mired shape take form in the stretch they all held their gaze on. “It’s not a monster...it’s a human.” she breathlessly sighed. LT joined her as they stepped out from behind the mech, a bit of blood smearing the sleeve of her imperial expeditioner jacket.“It’s just a girl…” Lawrence muttered, weapons still trained on the unmoving figure. Despite the muggy day she seemed obfuscated by a fog, a silhouette in a hazy shade. A pair of fiery green eyes blazed through, alien in their nature. She couldn’t have been more than 16, but something about her or the situation didn’t sit right.

“We are the 3rd Arch Royal Expeditionary Force, we can return you to the colony and keep you safe along the way. Put your guns down you idiots, she’s a child. What’s your name?” the captain said sternly. The air of confidence rang through the wood, despite what her gut was telling her. Confidence was the better part of being a captain anyway.

“Royal?” the voice rasped from the fog, spoken like a clear whisper pressed against her ear but from fifty yards away. “I can’t go back with you…” she trailed off, a sudden sadness overtaking the tone. A finality threaded through those newly spoken words, a chill in the wind that began to rise again. The captain’s red collar started to become a bristling nuisance against her jaw line.

“Every person, every thing, every piece of scrap has a use in the colony. Of course you can come back…” Captain Harpee countered with a now wavering voice, the eeriness of it all forcing cracks in her foundation.

“No.” the whisper turned to a roar, defiant.

With that, spiked grey vines split the earth and burst from the ground. The first set gripped at the boy Lawrence and slammed him face first into the dirt, his arms flailing as he sunk in. The boy’s legs kicked and clawed in an effort to free himself. A second set of vines grasped at the legs of another of her men, straining and ripping one of the appendages free with a sickening crunch. A spray of blood spilled out onto the forest floor and he crumpled into the reddish brown dirt. A shot fired as he fell, setting off an echo of gunfire from her men into the fog.

“Damnit..” She muttered and scrambled behind a tree for cover. She was quick to realize her mistake as roots spilled out and gripped at her ankles. In a panic she grasped her sabre and cut at the writhing mass, scrambling out into the open as another spiked set of vines narrowly missed gutting her. As she ran her eyes darted to see a vine lash at LT’s wrist and another catch him across the shoulder. The spray of blood sent skyward lit up like a firework, backlit by the setting sun and sent his hulking frame sprawling into a dirty pile of leaves.

Her men were in disarray but continued to fire off a few shots and provide cover, gaining the ire of the creature they faced and her omnipresent vines. Whatever hollow of this wood they ventured into it didn’t belong to them and they were not welcome. Captain Harpee darted back up to that embankment that brought them into this fresh hell, her fingers clutching at the dirt as she hauled herself up. Bit by bit, she crawled up and over, soil staining her regalia as she scampered onto her stomach to survey the scene.

Whatever it was, the woods were at this creature’s command. The wind, the lashing vines, the roots that clutched and tore at the limbs of her team. The force of nature was wild and no amount of planning could counter it. In times of uncertainty Captain Harpee thrived, and the reason for that was relying on her own impulsive decisions. Those decisions had carried her this far, why stop now.

She looped back around a knot of trees, hoping that the crew could keep the creature busy long enough. Darting from tree to tree, she closed in, each peek offering a glimpse of the carnage being unleashed. As she drew closer she felt the hair on her arms stand, a power that had a gravity all its own and tied her stomach into a knot. An unintelligible whisper pressed against her ear with a coercion that would have driven someone with a little less resolve mad. She’d been through far too much to let that ‘thing’ be the one that broke her. Centering herself she took three short breaths and darted free from the tree line, charging and spearing the girl right in the chest with her shoulder, slamming her into the ground.

Before she could completely disarm her with a sharp strike from the guard of her sword, a vine lashed out and narrowly missed her face. She felt it coil back around and grasp at her neck, but with a quick roll Captain Harpee was free. Though now there was too much distance between her and the girl, forcing her to scramble to her feet and seek cover.

Another vine, another too-close-for-comfort dodge as she leapt out of the way, rolling again to her feet and sweeping her leg, sending the creature sprawling onto her back. The creature began to sit up and in a fury she slammed the scrawny neck back into the dirt. Roots again gripped and clawed at her arms, cutting into the skin beneath. Screaming out she wrestled with the supernatural power that rose from behind the girl’s timid and scared face.

It was just a girl.

That realization disarmed her briefly until a grey vine lashed against her cheek, gashing deep. The blood dripped down to her lips and down along her neck. The taste of blood. She’d had enough and a torrent rose through her in response. Captain Harpee’s eyes grew wide and like a banshee she screamed. Her fingers gripped nearby craggy rock and slammed it into the side of the girl’s head with a sickening crack. The sound rivaled that of their now downed hauler tearing through those tree trunks.

Once more, the forest stilled completely, save for the desperate panting from Captain Harpee. Her uniform dirty, shredded, and bloodied she felt her sudden burst of adrenaline fade and panic set in. The rest of her hobbled crew slowly reassembled and circled around the scene. Roots and vines subsided slowly and before her lay a young girl, dirtied blood leaking from her head beneath locks of wild reddish hair.

“She’s not dead...she’s breathing.” LT snarled, lifting his gun and fixing it on her, “She killed half our crew, she’s a menace. I say we put a bullet in her head and get a nice little bounty for our trouble.”“No.” Captain Harpee said sternly, rising to her feet and pressing her palm into the barrel of his gun, lowering it. “Everything we find, every piece of scrap has a use in the colony.”

Closing her eyes she let the anger subside and tried to impulsively grasp at what was next for them.

“Ravage will pay more for a living witch than the queen will for her corpse. It’s just business.”

-END-