Start with Episode 01 of Kaylynn Five

Alendar remained seated against the glacier, staring towards the stars setting along the horizon. His Krylan protective suit insulated his back from the dangerously cold ice he used as a back rest. Even if the Heragul fleet was still in orbit, he could not contact them directly with the equipment he had at the moment. He thought about returning to the station. There, he could make contact with an orbiting fleet. However, if the Surakari had won the fight, that would probably be the first place they would go.

Six new stars appeared in the distant darkness and their apparent brightness grew in size. Alendar’s computer automatically tracked the new objects, trying to place a trajectory on them. The Krylan stood up and watched the bright objects fade into the night one by one, but not before several had eclipsed the distant stars. His computer continued its complex mathematical calculations and replaced the faded stars with icons indicating their likely trajectory. Alendar extended the lines across the horizon and they ended near the caverns.

Minutes passed as the dark objects passed in front of an ever increasing number of stars. Assuming each object was the same, the Krylan’s computer began generating models of the likely appearance of the approaching objects. Three more minutes ticked away on Alendar’s mission timer and a rough model of the objects was completed. Their shape and identity quickly became apparent. As the Surakari dropships raced over Alendar’s position, the vacuum of Kaylynn Five cloaked them in silence.

Alendar turned back to the caverns and sprinted as fast as he could across the ice fields. He was running straight into the enemy invasion force, but he knew it would be impossible to hide outside on the plains of ice.

“Maybe the complex tunnel system could conceal me,” he thought.

In addition, somewhere in those tunnels was a double chance to survive. The doubling of odds that were next to zero were still next to zero, but it was a better chance than the one that he had now.

The Krylan shook his left wrist and a translucent blue energy shield flashed out. Reaching behind his back with his right hand, he popped open a secret compartment in his suit’s power cell, and withdrew a pistol. Alendar was ready for a fight.

Alendar pressed his back up against the cavern wall, the uneven ice surface gently stabbed into his back. Red beams of light swept across the walls and filled the pitch black corridors. Around the corner, four Surakari soldiers congregated, acting as if they were having a conversation among themselves. Without survival gear or an atmosphere, the Krylan struggled to figure out how the aliens were conversing.

The Krylan raised his pistol up anticipating the approach of the Surakari, but their red tinted lights betraying their position faded in the opposite direction down the passage. Alendar continued his search for Kar-Al-Lynn, using his helmet’s thermal cameras to navigate the darkness. The near absolute zero walls of the cavern glowed in a dull blue in his helmet.

He had to disable his radio ping beacon the moment the Surakari landed. Just as Kar-Al-Lynn could detect the signal, so could the Surakari. Alendar hoped the Heragul Geologist still had his equipment on and that he would be able to pick up something.

Referencing the scientific maps from the expedition, Alendar knew the location of the radioactive anomaly that the team had been studying. Temperatures of the cavern passages grew slightly and more diverse as he proceeded towards the destination on the map. The Krylan’s foot pressed on the ice and sank. Freezing in place, he focused at the icy floor and engaged his helment’s white light lamp. Under the ice, waves of liquid water retreated from the pressure of his foot print and attacked the points where his feet retreated. As the Krylan continued his slow march, the floor returned to solid ice.

Down the hall, more red lights painted the walls. Alendar disabled his light, crouched, and proceeded towards the lights with his shield leading the way. Looking for somewhere to hide, he couldn’t find any nook or crevice to hide is small stature. The Krylan raised his pistol and aimed it down towards the corner from where the Surakari would emerge.

Kar-Al-Lynn threw himself down behind a large boulder of ice. Red beams of light swept over top him, coating the wall of the cavern in a glowing red hue. Before ducking for cover, the geologist recognized the shape of the alien Surakari as they rounded the corner. While he could not hear the Surakari if they were approaching down the corridor, the movement of the lights seem to reveal the fact the aliens were standing still.

The Heragul pulled out his pistol, loaded with zero atmosphere ammunition. He vaulted to a knee, leveled his gun at the first Surakari silhouette and pulled back on the trigger three times. One alien chest exploded outward and its light crashed to the ground. A green plasma bolt charged at the Heragul, smashing through Kar-Al-Lynn’s cover.

Ice vaporized into steam, froze, and fell to the ground as tiny pieces of hail. The Heragul glanced at the hole in his cover and sprinted for the cavern passage behind him. Another plasma round chased the Heragul, bathing the cavern in a shimmering green light. It passed through the space that the geologist had just occupied. More steam and hail erupted from the cavern wall.

Another color of the light joined the battle. Multiple blue flashes filled the cavern. Two red lights went dark and fourth crashed to the ground. Its beam still pointed in the direction of Kar-Al-Lynn, but it moved as if rolled back and forth along the ground. The geologist remained in his position, unsure if the Surakari were preparing a trap. A gigantic shadow, cast by the Surakari’s light fell over the wall and froze in place. Its legs, and a pistol rose the height of the cave.

“The Surakari have been neutralized. You can come out Kar-Al-Lynn,” Alendar said.

Remaining in hiding, “Is it safe to use the radios?”

“Keep the power output to the lowest setting and I doubt the Surakari will be able to find us from any useful distance.”

Kar-Al-Lynn raised to his feet and faced towards the much smaller Krylan. Alendar dropped the Heragul’s shell casing gripped between his fingers. In struck the ground and bounced without a sound. A dead Surakari lay face up behind the Krylan with frozen blood pellets scattered about.

“How do those things survive without some sort of suit?” Kar-Al-Lynn asked.

“I don’t know, but my guess would be that they can make the outer layer of their body maintain air pressure so their internal liquids don’t boil away. I will have to study them another day. We can’t stay here.”

“I know where we can go. It is a little warmer there, but we still need our suits. Can yours handle radiation?” Kar-Al-Lynn questioned.

“Of Course.” Alendar answered.

Continue with Episode 5

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