Death's Reward

Huntress Lythalia walked down one of the corridors in the Nortabian flagship Titania's Hammer towards the meeting room where the Commodess awaited her arrival. The rose gold interior of the ship reflected Lythalia's tanned skin and auburn hair perfectly. The Nortabian's prided themselves not only on their strength, but also in their meticulous nature. The ship was scrubbed clean daily by the grunts of their forces, the frontsman. Lythalia passed many of them on her way to the meeting room. They all looked down as she approached, not daring to catch eye contact with her. Rumors had spread over the years about the huntresses. One such rumor claimed that if you looked one of them in the eyes, you would be doomed to die a horrible death. Lythalia didn't care to much about rumors, but that particular one made her smile slightly. Her job, after all, required her to be particularly efficient at dealing death out to Nortabian Empire's enemies. Unfortunately for Lythalia, her last mission had called those very same skills into question.

During the battle for the planet Brun, one enemy vessel was able to escape. Lythalia was tasked with leading a squadron of fighters dedicated to making sure no ships made it past the Nortabian Fleet. Whether it was a civilian or military ship, it didn't matter. The enemy fleet offered some resistance, but in the end their ships were sent falling back towards their planets' surface. Their ships were no better flaming coffins, and the Nortabians made short work of their armies on the ground. Brun fell, but not before a single ship sped out past their fleet and made a calculated slipstream jump. Luckily for Lythalia, she was able to damage the ships engines before it made the jump. The plasma rounds from her modified Carrion-2 fighter melted through the fleeing ships engines with ease, but it was still able to elude her. Whoever the pilot was, they were clearly quite skilled, Lythalia had to admit. That skill led to her failure, and her failure led to a personal meeting with the Commodess. as she approached the gilded entrance of the meeting room, two goliath guards stood on each side of the door. They wielded hammers that were just as tall as them, and the hammers had spikes that protruded out of each end. Their weapons were crossed in front of the door. No one entered or left this room without the approval of the Commodess. The massive guards stood at 8ft tall, and their armor was coated in crimson and gold markings. The metal plates on the sides of their heads matched their armor, signifying their rank as the Commodess's elite guards. Their eyes were jet black, and their faces looked like they were carved out of stone. No fear, no happiness, and no sorrow. They just simply existed

"I was ordered to come here by the Commodess. You may let me pass," Lythalia said, irritation lining her words. Despite the fact that they were the Commodess's personal guards, it still annoyed her to no end that she had to address these things in such a manner. No matter what they did for the Commodess, they were beneath her. The guards continued to stare straight ahead with not so much as a glance in her direction. After a few moments, they moved the hammers from there cross-lock formation in front of the door, and the door itself parted before her. She walked forward into the room. The door closed behind her and she could hear each metallic lock fall into place. She also noticed the Commodess who stood on the other side of the table, which acted as a star chart. the liquid metal images of the planet Brun and the Nortabian Fleet that orbited it were displayed on the table. The images were displayed in real time as she saw ships moving into the standard orbital blockade formation. Their frigates would be placed on the outer edge of the fleet, while the destroyers and then the carriers would be staggered behind them in that order. Behind that insurmountable wall of plasma cannons and thermo shields lie Titania's Hammer.

"It pleases me that you arrived here on time Lythalia. Your ability to be punctual is not disappointing. That's good, for your sake." The razor-edged words cut into Lythalia's ears as she removed her focus from the metarama table to the Commodess. The Commodess's neon-gold eyes bore into Lythalia. Her flawless ebony skin shown slightly against the light from the metarama. The Commodess's midnight hair was cut short, so there was nothing to take the attention off of her fierce glare. Lythalia wanted to look away, but she couldn't. To look away from the Commodess now would certainly spell her doom. Commodess Tysillia was known for killing subordinates that couldn't hold her gaze. She claimed that by doing so it would teach others the price that would be paid for such weakness. So Lythalia held the Commodess's gaze, more so out of fear than courage. The Commodess held eye contact with her for a few moments longer before bringing her focus towards the metarama. Lythalia could feel feel each muscle in her body relax simultaneously. She was thankful for not having to deal with the weigh of the Commodess's eyes, even for a brief moment. As the Commodess brought her attention to the table, she waved her hand. The liquid metal responded to the gesture, and it swirled and merged into one clear image: the transport ship that had made the slipstream jump. The Commodess brought her attention back to Lythalia, and the brief moment of rest Lythalia had suddenly vanished.

"Listen, and listen well, Lythalia. I didn't bring you here to punish you, although I have every right to do so. Instead, I have brought you here to assign a task that you will complete to atone for your failure." Lythalia winced as she felt the full weight of each of the Commodess's words. Each of them had enough power to crush entire starships. Her will was absolute, and it would be carried out by anyone she saw fit to do it, At this moment in time, it was Lythalia who had to carry this particular burden. A burden which, through her failure, she had placed on herself.

"Luckily for you, my sensory agents are picking up a transmission from the vessel." The Commodess waved her hand again, and the liquid metal forged itself in the image of a small moon.

"Because of the damage you inflicted, the ship was forced to land on this moon. You are to go to this moon, locate the ship, and destroy the signal and any survivors you find. Our conquest into this portion of the galaxy has been successful due to our quick and decisive dominance of each system we have invaded. Your failure, Lythalia, could hinder this invasion. If you fail, I will deliver your broken body to the Empress herself. Do you understand?" At the mention of the Empress, Lythalia's entire body suddenly felt like it was being submerged in ice cold water. Lythalia instantly found herself bowing before she even realized it.

"I will not fail you again, Commodess. I swear it on my oath as a Huntress of the Nortabian Empire," Lythalia said as her auburn hair hung past her face.

"Excellent. You are to leave immediately Huntress Lythalia. Dismissed." Lythalia turned on her heels towards the door. The door clanked as the locks retracted and the path opened for her. She walked out of the meeting room at a brisk pace. Lythalia welcomed the chance to be out in the field again. Out there, she could breath. Lythalia made her way towards the hangar. She was prepared to hunt, now more than ever.

Lythalia's Carrion-2 exited slipstream, and the full view of the moon filled the outside of her cockpit. The moon orbited it's gas giant vertically rather than horizontally. According to the readings on her ship, the enemy vessel crash landed on the side of the moon illuminated by the giant blue star which the planet orbited. It wasn't close enough for it to be scorched, but the heat would certainly be prominent. Lythalia angled her ship towards the coordinates for the downed vessel and made her decent into the moon's atmosphere. As she entered through the atmosphere she noticed that the moon was able to support life. The giant tress that covered the landscape had found a way to reflect the blue star's oppressive heat while protecting their branches with a huge, bio-luminescent dome that rose above the branches. The trees were littered across the landscape, and it would have been difficult to land without destroying them. The shuttle that crashed landed on the moon had cut her a clear landing path. Several tress were badly damaged as the shuttle punched a whole directly through one of the bio-luminescent domes and seemingly bounced off several others trees before it finally stopped. Lythalia entered the landing sequence in her control console, and her ship began it's decent into the punctured tree dome.

Lythalia's ship landed directly under the hole caused by the shuttles crash. She checked her combat suit's diagnostic and systems before exiting the cockpit and walking down the ramp that led to the planets surface. The surface of the moon was dry, of course. Lythalia suspected that any moisture that made it into the soil was immediately absorbed by the trees. She began making her way to the crash site, her head on a swivel. The fact that the ship was still broadcasting meant that there could be survivors. Lythalia secretly hoped that there were survivors. Someone needed to pay for the humiliation she was forced to endure during her meeting with Commodess Tysillia. She would make sure they felt the pure helplessness she felt under the Commodess's golden gaze. After ten minutes of walking, Lythalia found herself at the crashed shuttle. The damage caused by the combination of her plasma rounds and the forced landing certainly made sure the ship would never leave the surface of the moon.

One of the ships half-circular wings was ripped clean off, most likely due to the impact it sustained against the tree before hitting the ground. Lythalia's visual scanner didn't detect any vitals onboard the shuttle. Regardless, she walked with precision into the smashed open cargo bay of the downed shuttle. She made her way through the scattered wires, eviscerated metal panels, and broken shuttle doors before she made it to the cockpit. This shuttle looked as if it could at least have a crew of about eight to ten, but there was only one person her bio scanner picked up. They lay dead, sprawled over the ships steering controls. Lythalia switched to the ex-ray setting to scan the body, and she was able to determine that several of their broken ribs had punctured their left lung. The only one to have escaped the Nortabian invasion of the planet Brun had died due to internal injuries. Lythalia quickly inspected the cockpit controls, determined the control frequency for the signal and disabled it. Now, both the ship and it's owner were gone, their usefulness at an end. Lythalia took one more look at the pilot from Brun. Their expression seemed peaceful, as if they had found something they were looking for in the eternal dark. Their eyes were closed, as if they were simply sleeping. Lythalia found herself feeling resentful towards the dead pilot. Here on this heat-smoothered moon, in the bowels of a compacted and derelict shuttle, this pilot found something that most life-forms spend their entire lives clawing, fighting, and pleading for: Peace. Lythalia turned away from the dead pilot and made her way back to her ship. She would not have that reward. Not yet