(Photo by SpaceX)

Soldiers filed into row upon row, standing at attention while Fas stood at their head, watching silently. The events of that morning, first her dream and then all that had happened in the warehouse, were still fresh in her mind. Last to take their place were the Ka’Rak Kindling, lead by Li’Ko.

Fas took her time inspecting the soldiers. Even with her increased scrutiny, practically everything passed her approval. The Ka’Raks in particular were in excellent shape, from their uniforms to their decorum. When she finished, she gave Li’Ko an appreciative nod. She was about to return back to her place in front of the battalion when she noticed that strange glow still in Li’Ko’s eyes. For a moment she hesitated but thought better of bringing any additional attention to it than was necessary. A quick glance towards the Kindling revealed more of the Ka’Raks with the same sort of dim glow in their eyes. Still, nothing about their behavior struck her as worrisome so she left it alone for the time being.

Fas transmitted the days orders over the neural network and the soldiers all broke from formation to immediately begin executing them. Even though she herself disliked the neural network, she knew it was important for the soldiers to all be accustomed to it. More than that, however, it confirmed a suspicion she’d had regarding the Ka’Raks. Even though none of them had been given the implants that connected someone to the neural network they all still responded to the orders given, executing them flawlessly.

For the next couple of hours, the field was filled with activity as squads hurried about, assembling the obstacle course they’d been instructed to build. Trenches were dug, walls were erected, and turrets were set up, in addition to the numerous other hazards and obstacles. The moment it was completed, the soldiers then began to run through their paces, taking it in turns to either be the ones traversing the course or the ones controlling the turrets and other hazards.

Fas, having had a rudimentary watchtower built for herself, watched from above. As she watched, she couldn’t help but be reminded of her first few days on Isarch following her crash landing. The Ka’Raks had found her, unconscious but alive, and taken her back to one of their encampments. To them, she was an oddity, a curiosity that they were more than willing to use for their own enjoyment. They built elaborate courses for her to traverse, each one more challenging and deadly than the one before it.

“RUN!” Fas remembered the Ka’Raks shouting to her.

The ground was nothing but thick mud and twisting roots that all worked together to hamper her progress. Such terrain wouldn’t have been so problematic had it not been for the fact that her suit had been damaged beyond repair upon impact with the planet’s surface. The suit was designed to augment the wearers physical strength and agility, as well as provide significant protection. Without it, she was left with only her natural abilities.

A thin layer of water rested on top of the mud and reflected the bright sunlight, turning thousands of tiny points into blinding flashes of light. Between the water and the mud swam venomous snakes. There were even worse things beneath the mud, not to mention the Ka’Raks above on their floating platforms, firing off shots at her whenever the mood struck them.

Ahead of her, the only solid ground in the entire course jutted up from the muck. The large stone, its surface marred by a pair of fissures wherein a few trees grew. It was the tallest of those trees that she was supposed to reach, all without falling pray to any of the aforementioned hazards.

A loud crack rang out and the mud just to her left exploded. She’d been standing still for too long and a Ka’Rak had taken a shot at her. The blast didn’t hurt her but it did spur her on once again. Using a long, sturdy length of root that she’d collected early on, Fas plowed ahead, prodding with the root in search of any unseen threats and flinging the smaller ones away.

The distance between herself and the rock never seemed to get any shorter, no matter how much she fought. Her muscles burned from the prolonged effort but she did not allow herself to give up.

“I will reach that rock,” Fas growled to herself.

She hadn’t meant to be overheard but the laughter from above revealed that she had been, nonetheless.

“No one reaches the rock!” a voice shouted down to her.

“Then I’ll be the first!” she shouted back.

Her determination redoubled now and she began to leap up and out of the mud, covering more distance at the expense of safety. Each time she landed she felt smooth bodied snakes slithering away from her. It seemed her sudden arrivals were enough to startle the snakes and rather than striking they opted to retreat. Several times Fas did this, each time tempting fate and each time coming off lucky.

“I’m getting closer!” Fas shouted even though the rock still refused to seem any closer. “Every second I’m getting closer!”

It was then that she first witnessed, and began to suspect, the power of belief for the Ka’Raks as an almost imperceptible wave moved through the area and Fas discovered herself not only closer to the rock but practically touching it with her nose. Without allowing herself time to be amazed, she scrambled up the smooth sides of the rock and began climbing up towards the trees. Above her she could hear the amazed gasps from the Ka’Raks.

By the time she reached the canopy of the trees the Ka’Raks had descended on their platforms to be even with her. It was difficult to read their expressions but Fas was fairly confident that it was amazement that she saw on their faces.

“You reached the rock,” one of them said.

“Yeah,” Fas panted as she wiped sweat from her brow. “I told you I would.”

The Ka’Raks all shared looks with one another. This was a new behavior for them as far as Fas had ever seen. Before, when she’d finished one of their courses, they’d just taken her back to her cell where she waited until they took her to the next course. She wasn’t in any rush to go back into the cell so she didn’t press the Ka’Raks on anything.

“We have no other tests for you,” they told her.

“Guess you’ll have to set me free, then,” Fas said more as a joke than anything else.

The Ka’Raks, however, seemed to be seriously considering what Fas had said.

An explosion shook the ground and Fas stumbled, losing her balance and falling to her hands and knees. She hit the wooden flooring of the tower overlooking the field and was jolted out of her memories. Soldiers were screaming down below and the neural network was awash with noise all its own as the signals were being jammed.

In an instant, Fas was back on her feet and looking in every direction to see what all was happening. The field itself was a mess of craters and bodies. Buildings in every direction were aflame and the sky above bore the obvious signs of increased pressure brought about by planetary defenses activating. Those of her battalion who had survived the initial bombardment were taking up positions near the turrets and trenches they’d installed for the obstacle course, but which would serve just as well should they need to fend off an invading force.

Bursts of energy flashed above them but the planetary defenses held.

“FAS!” a voice cut through the noise and commotion.

Fas turned and found Immolator Gres charging swiftly towards the watch tower. Without waiting for Immolator Gress to reach her, Fas leapt down from the tower to meet her on the ground. She saluted and Immolator Gres swatted her hands as though she didn’t think this was a time for salutes.

“Ka’Raks,” Immolator Gres huffed. “A dozen of their warships reached orbit before we knew what was going on. They’ve bombarded the barracks and most of the surface defenses.” She looked over to where Fas’ battalion had assembled. “I haven’t heard back from all the other Conflagrators but from the looks of it yours is the only one that hasn’t suffered significant losses.”

Fas scanned the buildings around them, quickly refreshing her memory of which buildings she’d seen that were destroyed and which ones were still sound.

“The anti-orbital arrays nearest the Ka’Rak barracks looked undamaged,” she said, pointing. “We can probably do the most good from there.”

Immolator Gres nodded her agreement at once. “If you have enough soldiers left over, send them to see if they can find another functioning array. Our orbital defenses weren’t meant to repel this large of an assault.”

Fas and Immolator Gres parted, Fas to see to her soldiers and Immolator Gres to see if there were any other survivors that could be found in time to stem the Ka’Rak onslaught.