Destiny Among the Stars - Scifi - LitRPG - Adventure

"The world is not in your books and maps, it's out there."
— J.R.R. Tolkien, spoken by Gandalf in The Hobbit

The dinette table was crowded, elbows bumping as the crew huddled around mugs of what Luca privately dubbed liquid disappointment. Ryan's god-awful coffee. The bastard had beaten him to the pot this morning and, of course, had ignored the measurement guide again. The coffee was strong enough to dissolve paint; Luca was pretty sure his tongue was still numb from the first sip. He cradled the mug anyway. Caffeine was caffeine, and he needed to wake up.

The crew looked a little worse for wear, still shaking off sleep as they poked at the breakfast rations.

"Alright," Luca said, clearing his throat and setting his mug down. "Once we finish breakfast, let's get the camp cleaned up and prep to move out. We've got more ground to cover."

Ryan stretched in his chair, the smug look on his face almost as irritating as his coffee. "Finally. I'm starting to feel like we've been camped here for weeks," he said.

"Yeah, we've been here three days," Luca muttered, but Ryan ignored him.

Zoe nudged her half-eaten ration pack aside, leaning forward on the table like she was ready to bolt. "Agreed. We're not going to learn anything new just staring at the same trees. Let's see what else this planet has to offer." She said, her eyes flicking between Danny and Ryan, looking restless.

Joey cleared his throat, setting down his tablet with a triumphant air. "Speaking of learning new things," he said, looking around the table like he was about to drop a bombshell. "I've got some preliminary results on the fruit samples."

The chatter died down instantly. Even Ryan put his spoon down, leaning forward with interest. "And?" Luca asked, trying to sound casual but failing. Was it actually safe to eat, he wondered, or were we going to find out it was laced with some alien neurotoxin?

Joey grinned, clearly enjoying the attention. "Well, the good news is, it's safe. No toxins, no weird proteins, nothing that would cause an immediate reaction."

"And the bad news?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow, already suspicious.

"No bad news," Joey said, holding up his hands. "But there is… a catch. The fruit contains an alkaloid compound similar to ones we've seen on Earth. An aphrodisiac."

Ryan snorted, nearly choking on his coffee. "An aphrodisiac? Seriously? What kind of planet did we land on?"

"You mean I landed us on?" Luca asked, grinning.

"Relax," Joey said, rolling his eyes. "It's mild. Barely noticeable in low doses. You'd have to eat a bunch of them for it to have any real effect, or you know, ferment them into a drink or something."

Emily leaned back, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "So, it's perfectly safe unless someone decides to gorge themselves." She shot Luca a knowing look.

Joey's smile faltered as he kept reading. "Actually… there's something else. Side effects. High doses could cause heightened aggression, impaired judgment, and even violent behavior. It could push someone into fight-or-flight mode."

That got everyone's attention.

"So, wait," Luca said, leaning forward. "You're telling me if someone eats too much of this, they don't just get happy, they might lose their shit and start a brawl?"

Joey nodded. "Potentially. It depends on the person. Some might just get a little more… uninhibited. Others? Could go full berserker mode."

Ryan let out a low whistle. "Great. So it's not just space Viagra, it's space PCP."

Emily shot a glance at Zoe, then at Luca. "Remind me to keep this stuff away from you two."

"Oh, ha ha," Luca muttered, shaking his head. "Joey, are we logging this as edible or not?"

"Edible," Joey confirmed, his grin widening. "But maybe not something you want to bring to a first date."

The table erupted into laughter, the tension breaking as everyone relaxed. Luca leaned back, sipping the terrible coffee and watching the crew banter. The past three days had been productive, a welcome change from the chaos of the meadow.

As they continued eating, their mostly-silent-and-therefore-useless ship AI, broke the quiet hum of their conversation. "Alert: Anomaly detected. Significant energy patterns located 53.1 kilometers northeast of your current location. Analysis suggests presence of an active portal."

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Everyone froze, forks and mugs suspended mid-air. The usual light-hearted banter vanished like smoke in a windstorm. Luca felt the weight of the announcement settle over the table. His hand tightened on his coffee mug as his stomach dropped. "A portal?" he asked, half under his breath. A fucking portal. Here? Now? That's what, 32, 33 miles?

Ryan, who'd dropped his mug and had run to the computer, replied. "That's right! The energy signature matches! A little stronger than what we've seen in Sol."

Luca leaned back in the bench, folding his arms as the weight of the words hit him. A portal. After weeks of nothing, zilch, now, out of the blue, this? Where the hell had it been hiding? His jaw tightened. "Well, that changes things," he muttered, trying to tamp down the knot of unease curling in his gut.

That wasn't something we could put off. This was the whole reason, the years of savings and mission charter, the survey work, an opportunity to break the level cap? Maybe.

"We can't ignore this," Luca said, keeping his voice steady. "If the System's active here, we need to know why it's been so quiet until now. A portal changes everything, about this mission, about this planet."

Zoe smirked, her dreadlocks catching the firelight as she shifted. "You know what this means, right? I was starting to think this planet was too good to be true."

Danny hesitated, his brow furrowing. "Or the System took its time to wake up. What if it's not the same as back home? New place, new rules... and we have no idea what's on the other side of that thing." He had a point, but still, Luca's heart was hammering; this was it, what they were looking for.

"Exactly," Joey cut in, his voice measured. "It could be an opportunity. Resources, data, hell, even treasure if it's like what we've seen before. But we need to approach this carefully. No charging in the dark."

Luca held up a hand, his own heart hammering against his ribs. "Hold on. We don't rush in." He turned to Ryan. "Energy status."

Ryan pulled up another screen, his expression shifting. "Not great. Two more cells failed their diagnostic this morning. They won't hold a charge. We're down to sixteen."

Sixteen cells. The number landed like a stone in Luca's gut. Luca did the math quickly in his head. They needed at least twenty-three cells just to power everyone's essential gear. His own loadout alone required four cells: the energy tomahawk, sniper rifle, blaster, and scout suit. Ryan needed even more with all his engineer equipment, his scattergun, blaster, armor, stasis trap, turret, and God knew what else.

"Shit," Luca muttered under his breath. They were already seven cells short of minimum operational capacity. If they ran into trouble, half the crew would be fighting with dead weapons or compromised armor.

"All the more reason to investigate," Emily argued, stepping forward. "Portals in Sol drop loot. Energy cells, gear, components. If this one is the same, it's not just an objective, it's a lifeline. We need what's on the other side of that thing, Luca."

She was right. Every instinct screamed it. This wasn't just about breaking the level cap anymore; it was about basic survival. He looked at the eager, determined faces around him. This was what they came for.

Ryan nodded, his sharp eyes glancing between Danny and Joey. "If we can get close enough to analyze it, that might give us answers. Hell, it might tell us why it didn't show up until now."

Luca let the silence linger as he mulled it over. A portal here, now? he thought. What had triggered it? Was it something we'd done, or was this planet hiding its own secrets?

He leaned back, letting their conversation play out as he studied their faces. There was excitement, sure, but it was edged with tension. Even Ryan looked a little too eager for his liking.

Emily had a way of grounding him, pulling him out of his own head. Portals didn't play fair, and Luca wasn't going to pretend they did.

"We're not rushing into anything," Luca said, cutting through the chatter. "We'll finish packing up, then head out and take a closer look. We're done with this site anyway. If the portal is stable, we'll set up the Peregrine nearby and analyze it from there. No one goes in until we're sure it's safe." He wasn't about to let anyone else get hurt.

Emily's posture eased slightly, though her expression remained wary. "I can get behind that plan. But if anything looks off, we pull back. No heroics."

"Agreed," Luca said. "I'm not looking to get anyone killed over curiosity. But we need more information about this place. That's why we're here." We had a job to do, after all. Even if part of him just wanted to stay here, in this weird, peaceful place, and forget about portals and monsters and the rest of it.

The forest had been idyllic, all quiet and romantic. Luca could see himself settling down here with Emily and...

Chris, who had been quiet, spoke up. "And if it is a portal, we're prepared. We've got the gear, and we've got each other. That's all we need." He said it so calmly, like he was talking about a walk in the park.

As everyone got up from the table, moving to gather their gear and dismantle the camp, there was this renewed energy in the air. Like kids who'd just been told they were going to the playground. They had a long day or two ahead, and plenty of unknowns, but the prospect of uncovering a new mystery gave everyone a sense of purpose.

Luca took a last sip of his now-cold coffee, then scanned the horizon. The faint red light of New Dawn's sun cast long shadows over the rocky outcrops and tangled vegetation. Seven days on the surface, and it still felt strange to breathe air that didn't sting the lungs, to walk under a sky free from the pulse of active portals. It was almost... peaceful. Almost. But seven days without a single encounter felt wrong, besides the local wildlife, like a calm before a storm we hadn't seen coming.

If this were anywhere in Sol, they'd already be dodging attacks, their supplies half gone by now. Nowhere was safe there, not unless you shelled out for a Territory Control Tower to set up a safe zone. And even those weren't foolproof.

"Everything's packed and ready," Ryan called out, hoisting a crate onto the back of the Peregrine. Luca could see the restlessness in Ryan's movements despite his casual tone. Four years of grinding portals, and now they were level-capped, stuck at level sixty with nothing to show for it but gear they barely needed.

Luca understood; they'd all been craving something new, a challenge, and New Dawn was supposed to be it. A fresh start, a chance to explore without always watching their backs. But now... this portal.

Emily approached, wiping her hands on her suit, a streak of dirt smudging her cheek. She looked cute, all smudged and determined. "We're good to go," she said, her voice upbeat. She was trying to keep the mood light, but Luca could tell she was just as on edge as he was. "Ready to head out?"

"Yeah," Luca replied, though he hesitated, looking over the treeline. It wasn't quite paranoia, but I'd learned not to trust the quiet. "Let's send the latest data to the Triumph before we move, just in case."

Emily gave Luca a quick peck on the cheek, then jogged back to help Ryan, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Seven weeks to get here, years of planning, and now they were ticking off items on a list.

But the portal alert... that had changed things.

They'd scanned the system up and down, and nothing had shown up until now, like a switch had been flipped.

Or like something had been… watching.