The cave mouth loomed before the Empire's team, a jagged maw exhaling a sickly sweetness that curled through the air like a siren's whisper. The violet sky of Dead Omen Star cast an eerie glow over the ridge, its light swallowed by the cavern's depths. Within, the chittering of Starbugs grew frantic, a cacophony of hunger and menace that reverberated off the rock walls. Jiya, her silver wolf spirit form poised at the entrance, issued her plan with calm authority. "I'll use my spirit to draw out the bloodsucking bats. You handle capturing and eliminating them. Any issues?"
Her words were met with nods, the team's trust in her unshakable. Jiya's white tiger spirit, its fur sleek and eyes blazing, let out a low growl, its massive paws pressing into the crimson soil as if eager to charge. The Starbugs within responded, their hisses sharpening, their blood-red eyes glinting with a ravenous desire. Yet they held back, their movements cautious, as if guided by an unseen will. Xino's voice crackled through the comms, low and urgent. "The Creeping Rose inside is sizing up Jiya's spirit. It's deciding if it can consume it."
Before anyone could respond, a tempest erupted from the cave. A swarm of bat-like Starbugs, their wings beating like a storm of black clouds, surged toward Jiya's tiger. The air thrummed with their frenetic energy, their needle-sharp teeth and clawed wings glinting in the dim light. Jiya raised her rifle, firing a salvo of warning shots into the swarm, then turned, her tiger sprinting away, baiting the horde. The fastest bats, swift as meteors, closed the gap, their claws scraping against her mech's hull, sparking silver flashes in the gloom.
Jiya's sword flashed, its arc a crescent of moonlight that cleaved through the nearest bats. Their bodies, sliced clean, plummeted, but before they hit the ground, their kin descended, tearing into them with savage hunger. In moments, the fallen were drained, their husks collapsing into the sand, desiccated and lifeless. Xino's warning cut through the comms. "Watch their teeth and claws. They can't pierce our mechs easily, but a lucky hit could mean more repairs."
Cen Yuehuai, quick to act, retrieved two gravity traps from her mech's arsenal, affixing them to her arrows. She took aim behind Jiya, her bowstring singing as she loosed a shot. The traps detonated on impact, erupting in a blaze of electric blue. Twin nets of gravitational force unfurled, shimmering like spider webs spun from lightning. The bats caught within glowed with blue sparks, their wings pinned as they hung, helpless, in midair. The swarm, sensing the trap, split into two streams, veering around the nets to pursue Jiya. But Bai Sha's team was ready. Yu Yan and Xino flanked Jiya, their weapons a blur as they hacked through the bats, while Cen Yuehuai fired two more gravity traps, sealing the swarm's escape.
Bai Sha, wielding a flamethrower, stepped forward, her expression one of grim delight. She unleashed a torrent of fire, the flames roaring like a dragon's breath. The bats ignited, their bodies consumed in brilliant fireballs that lit the night, their screeches fading into the crackle of burning flesh. The ground was littered with charred remains, a testament to the team's ruthless efficiency. Without pausing to clear the battlefield, they charged into the cave, driven by the knowledge that the Creeping Rose, sensing its minions' defeat, might flee its lair.
The cave's entrance was narrow, its interior a labyrinth of shadow and stone, stretching into an unseen subterranean realm. The team advanced cautiously, their mech lights casting stark beams across the uneven floor. After a dozen meters, the passage branched into a maze of tunnels, their walls rugged and damp. Bai Sha paused, her instincts sharp, then pointed to a tunnel on the right. "This way," she said, her voice steady, brooking no doubt.
As they descended, the gray rock walls grew mottled with dark red fungi, pulsing faintly like living flesh. The fungi quivered, exuding a viscous slime that glistened in the mech lights, its movement disturbingly organic. Cen Yuehuai, probing with her mental energy, caught a whiff of an odd scent—sweet, earthy, and faintly decadent. "What's that smell?" she asked, her voice tinged with curiosity. "Like soil, figs, and… caviar, all mixed together?"
Xino's response was immediate, laced with exasperation. "That's the Creeping Rose's hallucinogenic gas. Turn on your mech's purifier, now. Breathe too much, and you'll lose your mind."
Cen Yuehuai's hand flew to her controls, activating the purifier. The scent faded, but its ghost lingered, a seductive whisper at the edge of her senses, as if etched into her memory. The team pressed on, their boots slipping on pools of slime that gathered like dark mirrors on the floor. The light dimmed, the cave swallowing their beams, leaving only the faint glow of their mechs to guide them.
Suddenly, Bai Sha's head snapped up, her rifle barking as she fired into a shadowed corner. The bullets struck with a wet squelch, embedding in flesh. A gust of foul air swept over them, and a massive black water beetle—its body the size of a mech—lurched into view. Its mandibles clicked, and behind it, a dozen more scuttled, their wings buzzing as they prepared to strike. Bai Sha dodged a lunging mandible, leaping onto a nearby boulder. Her spear, a gleaming shaft of alloy, swung down, slamming into the beetle's abdomen and flipping it onto its back. A flash of steel followed as her spear pierced its brain, pinning it to the ground.
The beetle thrashed, its limbs flailing, then stilled. From its ruptured skull crawled a thin, white worm, wriggling with eerie persistence. Bai Sha's spear sliced it in two, but the halves, undeterred, burrowed into the soil, vanishing in a blink. Parasites, she realized, likely spawned by the Creeping Rose. Their size posed little threat to the mechs' sealed cockpits, but their presence was a grim omen.
The beetles, tougher than the bats, demanded more effort, but the team dispatched them with practiced ease. Jiya, ever meticulous, dissected a still-twitching beetle, extracting another white worm and sealing it in a sample vial. "Rose spawn," she said, her voice calm as she shook the vial. "Priceless for research."
Cen Yuehuai whistled, impressed. "One bug hunt, and we're set for life. No wonder off-world explorers are filthy rich."
Xino laughed, his tone dry. "You've got it backward. Forming an exploration team costs a fortune—ships, experts, gear. Selling bug parts barely covers fuel. The real goal's untapped resources—minerals, tech, relics. Most teams come back empty-handed, peddling bug scraps to break even. The 'rich' explorers you hear about? They're trust-fund thrill-seekers, buying fame with credits."
"Mercenaries, though," Bai Sha interjected, her voice casual, "they live off bug bounties."
Xino nodded, then froze, his eyes narrowing. "Mercenaries—battlefield scavengers. How do you know that, Your Highness?"
Bai Sha's smile was enigmatic, her response effortless. "Because I've been one."
Xino choked on his words, the revelation hanging in the air like a thunderclap. The team exchanged glances but let the topic drop, their focus returning to the tunnel. The passage narrowed, forcing them to slide single-file into a vast cavern. The air grew thick, the sweet, fetid scent overwhelming despite their purifiers. Cen Yuehuai's foot slipped on a slick patch, her mech lurching. Yu Yan's hand shot out, steadying her before she fell.
"I… I don't feel right," Cen Yuehuai murmured, her voice unsteady. "There's something flashing in front of my eyes—"
"Is your purifier on?" Xino asked, shaking his head as if to clear it. "I'm smelling it too. The purifiers aren't keeping up."
Cen Yuehuai let out a soft, dreamy sigh, her mech swaying. "My sister… I hear her voice…" She lunged forward, her mech stumbling toward the darkness.
Yu Yan grabbed her mech's helm, his voice a low growl. "Snap out of it. It's a hallucination."
"No!" Cen Yuehuai snarled, struggling against his grip. "I got first place. She's waiting for me at the podium!"
Xino stepped in, slamming a hand against her mech's back. "Wake up! With me and Her Highness here, you think you'd take first?"
Cen Yuehuai staggered, her mech freezing. After a moment, she straightened, gasping. "What… what happened?"
"The gas," Jiya explained, her tone clinical. "It paralyzes the nervous system, conjuring your deepest desires or happiest memories. It's been refined into a banned drug—'Rose's Dream.' You didn't inhale much, so a nudge was enough to pull you out."
Xino, grinning, couldn't resist. "Yearning for first place, huh? Tell you what—me and Her Highness will go easy next time. Work hard, and you might snag it."
Cen Yuehuai glared, her voice sharp. "You think I'd beat Her Highness? Please. I don't need your pity, and if you throw a fight, we're done."
Xino raised his hands, chuckling, and dropped the subject. Jiya's brow furrowed, her voice tense. "The gas concentration's too high. Our purifiers should handle one Rose's output easily."
Bai Sha, silent until now, produced a small, silver cube—a micro-drone. "Let's see what's down there."
She linked the drone to her mech's systems and activated it. The cube unfolded, releasing a spherical probe that hummed softly, its lights cutting through the dark. Bai Sha shared the feed with the team, and they watched as the probe navigated the tunnel, weaving past jagged rocks and slime-coated walls. The cave's lightless depths yielded to the probe's imaging rays, revealing a monochrome world of stark outlines.
The team held their breath. Shadows flickered on the screen—first one, then two, then countless. Starbugs, large and small, lay curled together, their bodies overlapping in a grotesque tableau. A few twitched faintly, but most were still, their forms eerily silent. A low, rhythmic thumping echoed through the probe's sensors—their heartbeats, slow and deliberate. In the span of minutes, two bugs ceased moving, their signatures vanishing from the feed.
"What's going on?" Cen Yuehuai whispered, her voice barely audible.
"I've never seen this," Xino said, his words quick, edged with unease. "Their life force is draining. Where's it going?"
Jiya's eyes locked on the screen, her voice cold. "You've heard of this, Xino. You know what it means."
He fell silent, the weight of her words sinking in. After a moment, he spoke, his tone grim. "They're trying to birth a Queen Bug."
The revelation hung like a guillotine, the cavern's darkness pressing closer. The Creeping Rose's lair was no mere nest—it was a crucible, forging a horror that could tip the balance of Dead Omen Star.