Chapter Seven: Skies, Restless Ground
The ship drifted slow, heavy, wounded but still alive.
No more crashes. No more dragons. No more explosions. For now.
The quiet hum of damaged thrusters filled the halls like a tired breath. The stars moved slowly outside, and ahead, the dark surface of Taiquim's planet loomed larger with every passing hour.
Inside, Coain sat by the window. His face was pale, shadowed with grease and exhaustion. The sky outside looked peaceful, but his heart wasn't. He stared at the planet, knowing what it meant.
He wasn't just an engineer anymore.
Once they landed, he'd have to rebuild everything reconnect, restore, protect. The ship was barely holding together. If Taiquim's forces attacked after they landed, they wouldn't be able to escape unless Coain rebuilt it almost from scratch.
Fix. Search. Rebuild.
Those three words echoed in his tired mind.
The captain's voice broke through the speakers.
"Attention crew. We've reached stable distance from the gravity zone. The ship will continue at reduced speed to avoid energy strain or accidental crash. Estimated landing time: nine hours."
Then, softer
"Each crew member will receive one ration pack. It is solid food, high energy. This is all we have left. Manage it wisely."
A long line formed in the mess hall. Soldiers, engineers, pilots faces thin, tired, but still breathing. Coain took his ration quietly and tucked it in his bag.
He didn't eat.
Not yet.
No one knew how long they'd be stuck on Taiquim's planet. He planned to survive.
Meanwhile, deep in another part of the galaxy on the scorched surface of Taiquim's planet
the warlord himself stood fuming.
His ship his weapon of world destruction was still incomplete.
Time was slipping.
And Taiquim did not forgive failure.
The massive war hall was filled with the sharp sounds of metal, fire, and fear. Dozens of engineers worked, hunched over alien tech. Any mistake, any hesitation… meant death.
One trembling alien engineer approached Taiquim, kneeling low.
"M-my lord… We cannot finish the launch system. We lack… one final instrument. A calibrator. Only available on Earth."
Taiquim turned slowly. His armor creaked. His voice, deep and thunderous, cut through the air.
"Then bring me Earth," he snarled.
The engineer shook. "W-we"
The warlord raised one hand.
BZZZZT—
A searing laser beam from his palm vaporized the engineer in seconds.
"Next engineer. Now."
One of the nearby soldiers dragged another trembling technician into the war hall. Taiquim didn't even look at him.
Instead, he activated a floating orb beside him—his Universal Voice Core, a strange translator orb that echoed everything he said in multiple human languages, preparing for his eventual arrival on Earth.
"Find someone who can build what I need. Search this entire planet. Rip it apart if you have to. But this ship will fly."
"I will not wait any longer."
Back on the approaching human ship, the crew didn't know the full extent of Taiquim's rage.
They only saw his world drawing closer.
And Coain, exhausted, silently tied his ration pack to his waist and closed his eyes for five minutes of sleep.
But peace wouldn't last.
Far away, on the blood red surface of Taiquim's planet, the ground trembled beneath the massive boots of armored soldiers. The air smelled of fire and smoke, and the wind carried the sound of roaring machinery.
Inside a blackstone fortress at the heart of the world, Taiquim stood facing a holographic map of the sky above. His breathing was steady, slow, but behind his pale gray eyes was a storm of anger barely contained. A soldier rushed in through the metal doors, panting and bowing quickly.
"My lord!" the soldier shouted, voice shaking. "Something's approaching. A ship unknown design, but damaged. It's headed straight toward us."
Taiquim raised one brow, stepping toward the screen. A small blinking dot moved steadily through the sky.
"So… they've come."
He let out a sharp laugh, one that echoed across the chamber. "Fools. They actually think they can reach my world."
Without waiting, he slammed his staff into the ground, and his voice thundered across the fortress.
"Prepare every jet. Ready every soldier in the sky fleet. I want them destroyed before they land. I want their bodies falling before they even breathe my air!"
Roars erupted from the war hangar as soldiers rushed into formation. Massive flying machines, black like night and shaped like blades, began rising into the sky. Pilots in spiked helmets locked into their seats, engines flaring with green fire.
"They will not land," Taiquim hissed. "Not one of them will live."
The jets took off in squadrons, slicing through the sky, their wings glinting like swords. They moved fast, in hundreds, guided by hatred and blind loyalty. Taiquim watched them vanish into the clouds. But he wasn't finished.
He turned to a twisted device beside his throne a strange organic machine with pulsing lights and metal tendrils. It was his link to Earth. The communication system could pierce galaxies.
He placed a hand on the crystal core and spoke a single word in his tongue.
The signal shot across space.
On Earth, deep inside the Council's headquarters, a red alert sounded. Screens flickered, lights dimmed, and a chill filled the room. One by one, leaders from across the world turned to the main display.
Taiquim's face appeared.
Large, cruel, and burning with fury.
"Greetings, Earth," he said, in a voice cold enough to freeze blood. The translation device on his chest spoke his words perfectly in Earth's language.
"I see your toy ship flying toward me. I see your tiny soldiers. I smell your hope."
His mouth twisted into a snarl.
"You believe in your crew? In your little engineer boy? You think you'll save yourselves with broken steel and blind courage?"
He laughed again low, dark, and full of madness.
"You have failed already."
Taiquim leaned forward into the screen, so close his red eyes filled the display.
"I will tear them apart before they even see my world. And once I finish with your heroes, I will come for your cities. Your homes. Your families."
He raised one clawed hand and slowly closed his fingers into a fist.
"I will burn your world until your oceans are dust and your skies are silence. And none of you will be left to tell the story."
Then the screen went black.
Silence. Every council member sat frozen. The room felt cold despite the lights.
The President of Earth stood slowly, eyes wide with horror.
"…He knows we're coming," one general whispered.
Another shook his head. "And he's ready."