Nucleus 1: The Dust of Moon [Mature Sci-fi Romance]

13:31, March 20, 2295

Command Bridge, Dragonfort Shūn-Huáng, Descending through Yosemite Airspace

The Dragonfort Shūn-Huáng broke through the cloud layer like a crimson blade, its massive hull casting shadows across the frozen valley below. Through the bridge's panoramic viewport, Dilinur watched the transformed landscape of Yosemite spread beneath them—ice-locked waterfalls, crystalline forests, and the unnatural geometries of Radi-Mon corruption.

"Prefect, we're at optimal firing altitude," the weapons officer reported. "Plasma batteries are primed for terrain clearance."

"Hold position," Dilinur commanded, moving away from the communications console. The crew's confidence was palpable. After all, they commanded the most formidable battlecruiser in the Inner Sol. What could possibly challenge them here?

A servant approached, bearing a lacquered tray with teapot and cup. Another servant, exhaustion evident in his movements despite his haste, poured the jasmine tea with trembling hands before presenting it to her with a deep bow.

Dilinur accepted the cup with a silent nod, the porcelain warm against her fingers. The familiar aroma should have been soothing, but something else whispered at the edges of her consciousness.

Your minions move too slowly, a voice that wasn't quite her own observed. Inefficient. Weak.

She took a measured sip, pushing the foreign thought aside. The towering Moondust Crystal was chained in the back of the bridge, but its willpower pulsed somewhere deep within her, its influence spreading like frost through her veins. She maintained control—mostly. But each passing hour made the distinction between her will and its desires harder to define.

"Prefect Altai," the communications officer announced. "Incoming transmission from GSR Chief Executive Reeves."

"Patch him through," Dilinur said calmly, taking another sip of tea.

The hologram materialized with crisp resolution—Alexander Reeves in his signature golden suit, cigarette already in hand. His smile carried all the warmth of a loan shark's greeting.

"Prefect Altai," Reeves began without preamble. "Your announcement was quite dramatic. I trust you're prepared to make good on your promises of compensation?"

"Chief Executive," Dilinur inclined her head slightly. "The Imperium honors its agreements. Though I'm curious about yours."

Reeves took a long drag, holographic smoke curling. "Let me be perfectly clear. The Golden State Republic's interest in this matter is purely pragmatic. We side with strength. Currently, you hold the Moondust Crystal's main body. That makes you the logical partner."

He admits opportunism openly, the Crystal's voice whispered. Either foolish or confident. Both can be exploited.

"A refreshingly honest position," Dilinur grinned, her tone neutral. "Though one wonders about the reliability of such fluid loyalty."

Reeves laughed, a sharp sound. "I've been nothing but reliable in pursuing GSR's interests. Ask your colleague Marisol. As a former GSR citizen, she can attest."

Prince Joon-Seok chose that moment to stride onto the bridge, his handsome countenace drawing Dinu's attention. His amber eyes fixed on Reeves' hologram with undisguised suspicion.

"Alex Reeves," Joon-Seok's voice cut through the air. "My intelligence indicates you only just conversed with Terra Alliance forces yesterday. Explain."

Reeves's expression didn't waver. "Indeed I did, Your Highness. They arrived seeking the same prize you now pursue. I simply—offered assistance." He paused, taking another drag. "Unfortunately, they proved judgmental about my methods."

"Judgmental?" Joon-Seok pressed.

"They discovered my arrangement with a Kraken at Stanford Psi University," Reeves said matter-of-factly. "Seventeen volunteers over three years, allowing the creature to absorb their knowledge of computer science. In exchange, it cracked classified databases for us. The Alliance team—Lorna Weiss, Zhi-Xin Wu, Diego Rodriguez—expressed considerable moral outrage."

From her position near the tactical display, Kaori's amber eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. She studied Dilinur with an intensity that would have been insubordinate from anyone else. But she remained silent, watching.

She suspects my control over your body and mind, the Crystal hissed. Her will is strong. Too strong. She could become a problem.

Dilinur's fingers tightened slightly on her teacup. Not yet. Kaori was still useful to her plans.

No, not just that. What if…she could be a friend, too?

Weakness. The Crystal's voice chided, and Dilinur felt what resembled a disappointed sigh—if the ancient artifact could manage that expression.

"So you fed some eggheads to them monsters," Iron Roach interjected from his position by the weapons console, his mechanical frame whirring as he turned. "And we're supposed to trust you won't backstab us too?"

"You wound me, Mister…Roach." Reeves pointed at him with his cigarette.

"If you sold out once, you'll sell out again." Roach replied.

"But consider this. The Alliance rejected my methods and offered nothing in return." Reeves acknowledged, seemingly unbothered. "You Imperium, on the other hand, understand that progress requires sacrifice."

Marisol stepped forward from the communications station, her features composed.

"If I may, Prefect," she said smoothly. "Chief Executive Reeves and I have maintained productive channels for months. His information networks have proven invaluable. Whatever his methods, his results speak for themselves."

"The señorita speaks truly," Reeves added, inclining his head toward Marisol. "Our previous arrangements have been beneficial. I see no reason that should change now."

Dilinur set down her teacup carefully. "Very well. We'll proceed with—"

The deck lurched violently.

The teacup shattered against the floor as the entire battlecruiser shuddered. Alarms screamed to life across the bridge.

"All stations, report!" Dilinur demanded, steadying herself against the command console.

"Massive energy signatures detected!" The tactical officer's voice cracked with sudden fear. "Emerging from underground—multiple contacts!"

His crimson black cloak billowing behind him, Joon-Seok moved to the viewport, looking at the chaos below. Massive pale blue worm-like forms erupted from the frozen earth, their segmented bodies glistening with unnatural ice. Each creature stretched nearly two hundred meters, with maws that gaped wide to reveal crystalline formations within.

"Glacierwurms," the Prince said with grim certainty. "Jokull Horde siege units. I encountered a few during my Jupiter days, on that moon named Europa."

As if in response to his words, the creatures reared back in unison. The air itself seemed to freeze as they unleashed torrents of frost-white energy toward the battlecruiser from below.

"Take us to higher altitude!" Dilinur commanded as another frost beam lanced past the viewport.

The helmsman's fingers flew across his controls. "Prefect, we're already at max safe operational height!"

"Then exceed it!" she snapped.

The Dragonfort climbed desperately, its massive bulk straining against Yosemite's thin mountain air. Through the viewport, Dilinur watched the Glacierwurms tracking their movement, their crystalline maws swiveling like organic artillery pieces.

Use the Crystal, she thought. Assert dominance over these creatures.

Moving to the chained artifact, Dilinur placed her hands on its faceted surface. The familiar rush of power flowed through her. "Akhandit chetna, kalateet rahasya—"

But when she reached out with her consciousness toward the Glacierwurms below, she encountered...nothing.

"What?" she whispered.

The Crystal's voice arose with genuine annoyance: My pieces await below. Without them, the Jokull resist!

"Dinu?" Joon-Seok approached, concern creasing his features.

"These Glacierwurms you speak of…" Dilinur said, frustration bleeding into her voice. "The Crystal can't work on them. Not before we make it whole..."

Kaori stepped forward from her position, amber eyes sharp with analysis. "The Radi-Mon hordes must be after the shard as well."

Before anyone could respond, the tactical officer called out: "More signatures detected! Alliance forces approaching from the north—looks like a StarWhale!"

Iron Roach's mechanical frame whirred as he turned from the weapons console. "Three-way clusterfuck coming up. Let's use the Dragonstone Pods. Get out of this mess, go down there, crack some skulls personally."

"You would dare…" Dilinur found herself speaking.

"Better than staying on this thing and getting shot down!" Roach retorted.

"Agreed," Joon-Seok nodded grimly. "This aerial bombardment will only intensify."

As if summoned by his words, the bridge shuddered again. Through the viewport, dark shapes burst through the cloud layer above them—Sky Shredders, but their dragonfly wings were different, glinting with green acidic secretions.

"The Fenris must have mutated them locally," Joon-Seok observed with professional interest. "Larger than typical Earth breeds, too."

The Sky Shredders dove in formation, their acidic bites eating through the Dragonfort's upper armor plating. One of the main engines erupted in a gout of flame.

Through the chaos, Reeves' hologram flickered, his expression now openly amused. "Educational. I'll attend my other duties now. Do contact me if you survive this…delightful clusterfuck."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The transmission cut.

"That son of a—" Iron Roach started.

A massive impact threw everyone sideways. Dilinur's connection to the Crystal severed as she slammed into a console, stars exploding across her vision. When she looked up, a Glacierwurm's frost beam had carved through the ship's underbelly, visible through the main viewport as frozen armor plates tumbled away like shed scales.

Through the growing chaos, Dilinur heard something else—a sound that turned her blood cold. Laughter. Deep, resonating laughter that seemed to come from the mountain itself.

On the main screen that now flashed, a dark brown figure in terrifyign exoskeleton materialized atop what resembled an ugly, bulbous Fenris hive. Even at this distance, even through the interference, she recognized him.

Skarn.

The Primarch of the Fenris Horde stood like a conquering god, his massive form silhouetted against the noon sky. In one clawed hand, he held exactly a Moondust Crystal shard of his own—the source of the dampening field.

"Did you think we had not prepared?" His voice boomed across all frequencies. "The Jokull learned from Harald during their enslavement! They know how to defend against the Crystal's influence now!"

"Impressive how you can access this channel, Primarch of Fenris." Joon-Seok placed himself between Dilinur and Skarn's form on the screen.

"With the Hivemind directing my hand, all is within reach." Skarn replied, his burning eyes narrowing at the Korean prince. "You are not allied with Sigrún. But it matters little. Pests will be squashed."

Dilinur felt the blood drain from her face. Sigrún…a Nordling name…could it be Lorna Weiss? Could it be Skarn wasn't even here for them. They were just...passers-by that got in the way?

Marisol whispered next to her. "This whole artifact—they're here for it."

Another crystallization beam lanced out, and this time the Dragonfort's death scream was audible. Support structures throughout the ship groaned and snapped. The deck tilted at an impossible angle.

"They're coordinating," Joon-Seok observed, helping her stand. "The Glacierwurms are herding us into the Sky Shredders' kill zone."

He was right. The viewport showed it clearly now—the massive worms had formed a circle beneath them, their frost beams creating a cage of ice and death. Above, the Sky Shredders spiraled in ever-tightening formations.

"Engine three is down!" the engineering officer reported. "Hull breaches on decks four through seven!"

Dilinur gripped the Crystal tighter, its surface growing warm under her touch. The whispers intensified, becoming more urgent.

Remain on this ship, the Crystal hissed. Seal the breached sections. Abandon the crew trapped there. Preserve resources for those who matter.

ASSERT CONTROL AND DOMINANCE.

The thought came so naturally she almost spoke it aloud: "Seal bulkheads on decks four through seven. Emergency containment protocols."

"Prefect?" the damage control officer hesitated. "There are still sixty-three crew members in those sections."

Acceptable losses, the Crystal whispered. Their lives mean nothing to our grand plan.

"Seal them," Dilinur repeated, her voice carrying an alien coldness. "We cannot afford to lose atmosphere through those breaches."

The bridge fell silent except for the screaming alarms. Every eye turned toward her.

"Prefect," Kaori stepped forward, her hand moving instinctively toward her Thermal Dagger's hilt. "That is not who you are."

Dilinur blinked, the Crystal's influence wavering for a moment. "What?"

"You've never abandoned your own like this," Kaori said firmly. "That's not you speaking—that's something else."

The moment stretched between them, the air crackling with unspoken tension. Around them, the ship continued to shudder under the combined assault.

Iron Roach's mechanical frame whirred as he shifted position, uncomfortable with the brewing confrontation. Even Marisol, usually composed, watched with widened eyes.

"I gave an order, Kaori," Dilinur's voice carried ice that wasn't entirely her own. "Question it again and —"

"And what?" Kaori stepped closer, her Martian amber eyes blazing. "You'll seal me in a bulkhead too? The woman who chose to evacuate civilians in Taipei, who chose not to pursue Skarn because there are lives to be saved, the one who chose to duel that Sand Lotus monk to save Joon-Seok—where is she?"

The words stinged. Dilinur's hand trembled against the Crystal's surface, its whispers growing more insistent.

She undermines us. Make an example. Show them what defiance costs.

"Prefect," the damage control officer's voice cracked with desperation. "Deck four to seven are flooding with injured Peons. What do we do—"

"Then evacuate!" Kaori snapped, not breaking eye contact with Dilinur. "Send them somewhere…somewhere still functional!"

Through the chaos, Prince Joon-Seok moved with deliberate calm to the ship's intercom. "This is Prince Pak. Open the doors to deck three. All Peons in decks four through seven, you have three minutes to reach there."

The Crystal's rage burned through Dilinur's mind. He circumvents our authority!

"B-b-belay that—" Dilinur started, but Joon-Seok's hand found her shoulder.

"Look at me, Dinu," he said softly but insistently, his beautiful eyes holding hers. "Fight it. I know you're still in there."

For a heartbeat, the voices warred within her. The Crystal's cold logic against something warmer, more human. Around them, the bridge crew worked with desperation, some organizing evacuation efforts while others fought to keep the dying ship aloft.

Before Dilinur could respond, Marisol's voice cut through the standoff: "The Dragonstone Pods in deck one are still intact. But the Radi-Mons are approaching there—"

A massive impact shook the entire ship as three Sky Shredders struck the bridge superstructure simultaneously. The deck plates buckled, and sparks showered from overhead conduits.

But before Dilinur could even consider, the combined Fenris and Jokull assault reached its crescendo.

"Bridge viewports compromised!" someone screamed.

The panoramic windows spider-webbed with cracks. Dilinur felt the first whistle of escaping atmosphere, then the terrible symphony of structural failure as the Dragonfort's massive frame began to buckle.

"All hands, abandon ship!" Joon-Seok's voice cut through the chaos as he grabbed the ship-wide communicator. "All personnel to Dragonstone Pods!"

The Crystal's whispers had become a shriek of desperation: They all conspire against us!

But Dilinur was already moving, muscle memory overriding the artifact's wrath. Around her, the bridge crew scrambled for emergency exits as hull breaches erupted in explosive decompression. She ran, away from the Moondust Crystal's chained main body.

Taking one last look, she caught a glimpse of the Crystal's containment system sparking and failing, massive chains snapping like thread as the artifact tumbled free, let loose into the sky outside, its massive form falling away.

"Dinu!" Joon-Seok appeared beside her, his strong hands pulling her toward the nearest escape hatch. "We have to go now!"

And then it came to Dilinur. A sensation, painful but refreshing. The Moondust voice, fading away. Her consciousness, coming back. She could feel the hotness of Joon-Seok's hand on her cold, shaking one now. Her will was hers again.

"We…go." She managed.

They ran through corridors filled with emergency lighting. Behind them, the bridge section tore away from the main hull with a sound like the world ending.

The Dragonstone Pod bay was chaos—crew members fighting for space in the few remaining evacuation craft. Joon-Seok shoved Dilinur toward the nearest pod as Iron Roach's mechanical form disappeared into another vessel.

"Kaori?" Dilinur called out, her eyes scanning the crowd, her already snow-white countenance paling even more somehow.

"Already launched!" Joon-Seok replied, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward an unclaimed pod. "Senior officers in separate pods—protocol!"

The Dragonstone Pod loomed before her, its hatch yawning open like a metal coffin. Dilinur hesitated at the threshold, watching crew members scramble past. Some pods had already launched, their departure marked by explosive bolts and rushing air.

"Go!" Joon-Seok practically shoved her inside before slamming the hatch. Through the small porthole, she saw him sprint toward another pod as the bay's ceiling began to buckle.

The interior was cramped, barely large enough for one person. Dilinur's fingers flew over the launch controls, muscle memory from countless drills taking over. The harness auto-tightened across the contour of her chest as systems powered up.

The launch sequence felt like being fired from a cannon. Through the pod's small viewport, she watched the Dragonfort Shūn-Huáng—the crimson battlecruiser whose hull now resembled a floating junkyard—break apart in the thin mountain air.

Her pod spun wildly, giving her flashing glimpses of the devastation. The bridge section tearing away like a severed limb. The Moondust Crystal tumbling free in a cascade of shattered chains towards somewhere far beyond. Other pods scattered like seeds from a dying flower, some trailing smoke, others already exploding.

The frozen peaks of Yosemite rushed up to meet her.

Through her spinning viewport, Dilinur caught sight of massive shapes moving below—Glacierwurms turning their attention to the falling pods. A frost beam lanced past, so close she felt the temperature drop even through the hull.

She pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them, making herself as small as possible in the confines of the pod. Outside, the world had become a blur of white snow and black smoke.

Then the viewport died, her pod's power evidently going out.

"Celestial Dragon, please keep me safe..." She prayed as more warning lights flashed red, darkness overtaking her. She had never been religious, but this moment left little choice. "Please keep me safe..."

The pod hit the earth with bone-jarring force. The world went black as she tumbled inside the shell like dice in a cup. Metal screamed and buckled. Her head snapped forward, stars exploding across her vision.

Then, silence.

Emergency systems died, their beeps fading into darkness. She hung sideways in her harness, disoriented, the taste of copper thick in her mouth.

Seeing nothing, Dilinur fumbled for the emergency release. Her fingers found the handle, pulled—nothing.

She tried again, putting her full weight behind it. The mechanism was jammed.

"No. No, no..." She yanked harder, panic beginning to claw at her throat. The manual override—where was it? Her hands searched frantically in the dark, finding only smooth panels where there should have been access ports.

The hull groaned. She felt the pod's walls beginning to buckle inward, compressed by its own weight and the impact damage.

She pounded on the hatch with both fists. "Help! Someone—anyone!"

Her breath came in short gasps as the walls pressed closer, inch by inexorable inch. She could feel the space shrinking, could calculate exactly how long before—

—she would die.

For the first time since the Crystal's whispers had begun, Dilinur felt truly alone. Moondust's presence—that constant, insidious voice—had vanished completely. In its absence, her thoughts felt strange and hollow, like a song missing its tune.

The hull continued to collapse inward. In minutes, maybe less, she would be crushed.

Then something began tearing through the pod's exterior wall.

Metal shrieked and sparked as clawed hands—no, human hands enhanced by Eclipse power decorating the fingertips—ripped through the reinforced hull like paper. Joon-Seok's face appeared in the gap, his almond-shaped eyes blazing with crimson psionic energy.

"Take my hand!" he commanded.

She reached toward him, and his grip closed around her wrist with superhuman strength. With one fluid motion, he pulled her free of the collapsing pod, both of them tumbling onto the frozen ground.

They lay there for a moment, breathing hard in the thin mountain air. Around them, the transformed Yosemite valley burned. Pieces of the Dragonfort continued to fall like meteoric rain, their impact craters glowing with residual heat.

"Are you hurt?" Joon-Seok asked softly, his voice stripped of its usual formal tone.

Dilinur sat up slowly, taking inventory. Bruises, cuts, minor injuries beneath her ballistic silk robes, but nothing broken.

"I'm alive." She looked at him, perhaps for the first time without the Crystal's influence coloring her perception. "You saved me."

"Of course I did." His hand found hers, and she didn't pull away. "Back on the bridge, when you ordered those bulkheads sealed...that wasn't you, was it?"

The question hung between them like a confession waiting to be made. Dilinur could feel the absence where the Crystal's whispers should be, the sudden clarity of her own thoughts.

"No," she said. "It wasn't. The Crystal...it was making me into something else." She looked at the burning wreckage around them. "I don't know who I am without its voice."

Joon-Seok squeezed her hand. "I've suspected for days. The way you spoke, the decisions you made...they weren't the woman I know."

"And who is that?" she asked. "The Dinu you know?"

"Someone who cares about the opinions of people around her. Someone who is..." He paused, watching flames dance across a distant mountain peak. "less perfect and more nervous when I'm present."

In the distance, she could make out other Dragonstone Pods scattered across the valley floor. Some moved, their occupants emerging. Others lay still. How many of her people had survived? How many were already dead?

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Without the Crystal, without the ship... what's our mission, even?"

Joon-Seok was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice carried an honesty she'd never heard from him before.

"I don't know," he admitted. "For all the Emperor's blessings, all our preparationall my strength and intelligence...I don't have an answer."

They sat together in the ruins of their certainty, watching their world burn around them. In the wreckage and chaos, something new was more important. Not the empire they'd dreamed of building when they'd first acquired the Moondust Crystal, but something smaller and more real.

To live through this together.