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

14:50, March 20, 2295

Tuolumne Meadows Battlefield

The night with Fuuka. The realization hit him like cold water. The Moaning Lotus Ritual. That night of awakening, of his flesh being inside hers, of power flowing between them.

"My psionic power is a virus?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh my god, you're blushing!" She squealed with delight, more water droplets scattering as she bounced slightly. "It WAS consensual! That's so sweet! Was it your first time? Wait, no, that's personal. Unless you want to tell me? I'm good at keeping secrets."

Meanwhile, the battle raged around them. Wilhelm's Scarab had become the center of a swirling melee, KM-227's armor scarred but holding as years of experience showed in every move.

"Major, they're trying to flank you!" An Ologun called out.

"Let 'em try!" Wilhelm's response was accompanied by the Sun Moon Cannon's distinctive whine. "Sun rising!"

Energy buildup created a distinctive harmonic frequency that made the air vibrate. The white-hot beam from the mech carved through two Fenormr and sent a Krabba scrambling back, its shell glowing cherry-red.

"Your friends are loud," Astrid observed, glancing toward the battle with mild interest before refocusing on Jabari. "But we were talking about your virus! The Lotus variant is super rare. Mind if I took some samples? Blood. Saliva. Or—maybe your Aether. Translation: your cu—"

"Get away from my Jabari!" Ume's voice cut through Astrid's rambling.

Plasma fire erupted nearby as Ume sprinted forward, her handgun spitting a charged emerald bolt. Astrid sighed—the exasperated kind.

"Don't interrupt! I just need some good data." she muttered, raising her free hand as she turned to Ume. "Skjöldr Vörn!"

A wall of crystalline ice materialized, absorbing Ume's attacks. But this wasn't the perfect, smooth barrier of a master psion—it was slightly lopsided, thicker on one side than the other.

"Ugh, I always make it wonky when distracted," Astrid complained, then called out louder: "Ugyldiggjøring!"

Green lightning crackled toward Ume, striking the android mid-stride. Ume's form convulsed as her synthetic muscles spasmed, smoke rising from overloaded circuits as she hit the ground hard.

"Ume!" Jabari tried to move, to help, but the paralysis held firm.

"Android. Hmph. You need a new girlfriend." Astrid remarked distractedly, her attention already returning to him. "Now, where were we? Oh right, samples!"

With her human hand, she reached for what looked like a specimen vial from inside her fur cloak just before movement caught her eye. Her whole demeanor shifted—not to battle-readiness, but to something like recognition.

"Oh great," she muttered. "It's him."

Golden light blazed across the battlefield as Thorin advanced, his Psytum Sword singing through the air, his weathered face set.

"Stand down, creation of Harald!"

Astrid's oral arms lifted Jabari with her as she turned, and he could feel her whole body tense—not with fear, but with annoyance.

"Professor Hǫggsson," she said, and was that a whine in her voice? "This is really not a good time. I'm in the middle of important research."

"Astrid." There was something almost sad in Thorin's voice. "What have you become?"

"Oh, don't start with that," she said, rolling her eyes. Water droplets scattered with the motion. "You sound just like Harald when he found out I'd enhanced the transformation. 'Astrid, you were supposed to wait.' 'Astrid, the calculations weren't complete.' Well, guess what? They're my calculations! Mine!"

Their clash, when it came, was nothing like the epic battle of titans Jabari had expected.

Thorin's blade met barriers of compressed ice surrounding him, sending shockwaves through the frozen meadow. But Astrid's defenses were hasty, improvised, fighting while still holding Jabari.

"Sólbrenna Eldr!" Thorin's incantation sent a wave of golden fire surging forward.

Astrid flowed backward, her movements liquid but somehow also...pouty?

"Járn-önd!" she countered, trying to dull his blade's radiance. "I still remember. You gave me a B+ on my thesis defense. A B+! Do you have any idea how that affected my GPA?"

"Your thesis on accelerated metamorphosis in arthropods was reckless," Thorin replied, pressing his attack. "Like everything else you do."

"It was groundbreaking!" Astrid protested, two oral arms striking in sequence while others maintained her grip on Jabari. "But noooo, apparently 'testing on yourself' violates 'ethical guidelines'."

Thorin's blade carved through the two attacking arms. "Harald was wrong to make you drink the virus. But I did warn you not to be his lover."

"That's not—" Astrid's perpetually flushed cheeks went from pink to crimson. "How dare you judge who I date—" She caught herself, looking at Jabari with embarrassment. "Sorry. Old drama. Academia is super dark."

Nearby, Wilhelm was already deactivating his Scarab, dropping from the cockpit to reach Ume. He pulled something from his combat vest—a small case marked with Seydou's personal seal.

"Come on, you beauty," Wilhelm muttered as he knelt beside the injured android. "Seydou, Thousand Gods with you, please tell me you planned for this..."

"I could send that Valoran to your fancy gods..." Astrid moved toward Wilhelm with amusement.

"Dagrspjót Bjart!" Thorin's attack was immediate and devastating, forcing the Radi-Mon woman to focus on him instead. A spear of pure Solar energy materialized in his off-hand, blazing with the fury of dawn itself. He hurled it with lethal intent.

Astrid twisted aside, but the spear's radiance was too intense for her ice-barriers to fully absorb. It clipped her shoulder, sending her staggering backward with a cry that sounded almost musical. Transparent ichor dripped from the wound, steaming where it hit the frozen ground.

"Sólarfóstra Líf!" Thorin renewed his assault, drawing power from the pale sunlight.

"Same old tricks," Astrid muttered. Multiple arms wove hasty defenses while she tried to maintain her hold on both Jabari and her dignity. "Kāla Garta!"

The void pit that opened was impressive but unstable, flickering at the edges. Thorin leaped clear easily.

"You've grown in power," he observed.

"Because none of you could teach me anything useful!" she protested. "Do you know how painful the first year was, with the virus in me?"

"I have no doubt. But you're choosing the wrong path to bring Harald to justice."

"I was right there, ready for him! I could wear the Pendant of Mánagrát and handle the Crystal just as well—" The words burst out of Astrid like water from a dam. She stopped, breathing hard, water droplets flying from her agitated movements. "But of course, he picked Sigrún, a fucking love child! The rest of us, just guinea pigs to him."

There was real pain in her voice now, the kind that came from old trauma never properly healed.

"So you convinced the others to rebel," Thorin said, his attacks not ceasing but his voice gentler.

"Ulrik convinced the others," Astrid corrected, regenerating severed arms even as she spoke. "I just...gave him the justification. Harald made us to be controlled. We chose freedom instead."

She looked down at Jabari suddenly, as if remembering he was there. "Sorry, you probably don't care about any of this. Want me to loosen the paralysis a little?"

The question was so unexpected that Jabari could only blink in response.

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Around them, Wilhelm's Scarab continued its dance. "That's it, you uglies! Come and get some!"

The Sun Moon Cannon roared again, alternating between freezing and burning beams in a pattern that kept the other Jokull Radi-Mons—nearly a dozen of them—off-balance. It was impressive how his mech alone was able to hold the Krabbas and Fenormr's attention.

"Your Scarab pilot's good," Astrid observed, deflecting another of Thorin's strikes. "I tried one of those when the Directorate was holding a demo at Brandenburg, you know? That was…with my ex, Finn. Rich spoiled brat. Really big cock, though."

"You're seriously telling me these while in combat?" Jabari managed to ask through partially paralyzed lips.

"I'm a multitasker!" She beamed at him, looking pleased he could speak. "Oh, the paralytic is wearing off faster than calculated. Nice! So the Lotus strain increases metabolic processing—"

That was when she floated sideways, dodging when Thorin's blade nearly took her head off.

"It's not too late, Astrid. Abandon the Jokull. We have facilities on Venus that can cure you—" the Elder said over the din of battle.

"Fuck no!" Astrid whined, ducking and weaving. "You grown ups always try to erase everything we do!"

For a moment, Jabari felt hope flare in his chest. Thorin may be winning. The Elder could free him through slicing the right oral arms on Astrid's lower body, then they could—

Astrid snarled, and suddenly her beautiful human features shifted. Her eyes became solid orbs of glacial blue, and when she opened her mouth, rows of crystalline teeth gleamed like a shark's. "Dauð-Möt, Eitr etr þú!"

The spell that erupted from her was unlike anything Jabari had witnessed. The very air around Thorin turned poisonous, spectral shapes resembling throwing axe materializing from nothing to hack at him from every angle.

"Sólskjöldr Vörn!" The Elder's desperate defensive spell created a dome of Solar fire around him, but Jabari could see it wouldn't hold for long against Astrid's assault.

Thorin's barriers flared. He was being overwhelmed. One spectral axe slipped through his guard, opening a gash across his ribs, tearing at the fabric of his his brown white robes. Another struck his sword arm, nearly making him drop his weapon.

They were losing, Jabari realized with growing horror. Whoever or whatever this Nordling woman was, she was strong.

That's when the battle shifted. Not because of any devastating attack, but because Wilhelm's voice crackled across comms:

"Ume's back online! Ologuns, covering fire—now!"

The Scarab's weapons roared in unison with rifle fire from the surviving Ologuns. The coordinated assault forced Astrid to split her focus even further, oral arms weaving barriers in multiple directions.

"Unfair!" she protested. "I'm one person! Well, technically I'm like 88% water, but still!"

That moment of frustration was all Thorin needed. "Ísljos endurfœða!" The healing spell washed over his minor wounds, restoring his strength. He pressed forward with renewed vigor, his blade work becoming a blur of golden fire.

Around them, the surviving Krabba and Fenormr had begun retreating into the frozen forest. Their withdrawal was coordinated, purposeful—not a rout but a tactical retreat.

"Finally," Astrid said, noticing the withdrawal. She flowed backward suddenly, putting distance between herself and Thorin. "They always take forever to get the timing right."

She turned those glacier eyes toward Jabari once more, and he felt his breath catch. Even in admitting defeat, she was captivating in a way that had nothing to do with just beauty but to do with how vibrantly alive she was.

"This was really fun," she said, sounding delighted. "Way better than the last three guys I killed and ate."

One of her oral arms brushed against his cheek. The touch was cool, damp, and surprisingly gentle.

"Think about me, yeah?" she said, leaning close enough that he could see the individual droplets of moisture clinging to her long eyelashes. "Maybe we could...exercise together when next we meet."

She bit her lip, looking suddenly uncertain as she released Jabari suddenly, letting him drop to the frozen ground as the paralysis began to fade.

Between one heartbeat and the next, she was gone. The only evidence of her presence was the intricate frost patterns on the ground, the puddles of water where she'd been standing, and the lingering scent of ocean spray.

The paralysis faded in waves, pins and needles racing through his limbs. His first instinct was to look for Ume—she stood nearby, movements slightly jerky but functional.

"Ume! Thank the Thousand Gods..." Jabari struggled to his feet, legs unsteady but recovering.

"My muscle fibers required reinitialization," she said, noticing his concern. "Major Wilhelm performed excellently under pressure."

"Just following Seydou's manual," Wilhelm deflected, already powering down his mech's weapons. "That sheila was right mental, eh?"

"The young often are," Thorin said quietly, approaching with his Psytum Sword deactivated. He looked tired, older somehow. "Brilliance without wisdom."

"You knew her," Jabari said. It wasn't a question.

"I guest lectured at Lund University eleven years ago. She was Harald's star pupil. Ambitious, desperate to prove herself." Thorin's expression was grim. "But when Harald chose to pass his artifacts to Sigrún instead of her..."

"She rebelled," Jabari finished.

"She made a choice that led her here," Thorin corrected as he gestured to the battlefield, littered with ice formations and scorch marks. "This was reconnaissance. The Jokull wanted to test our capabilities. And perhaps Astrid wanted…something else."

Jabari felt heat rise to his cheeks. "What could it be?"

"She marked you," Thorin said simply. "Ísmarr like her are why the Fenris allied the Jokull. Thinkers willing to bring the apocalypse."

"Ísmarr..." Jabari repeated after him, tasting the Jǫturmál word.

"She seems misguided." Ume added from beside him.

Thorin approached Jabari. The fist-sized Moondust shard in its containment box pulsed with subtle luminescence, responding to the residual psionic energy in the air.

"Regardless, what we've just faced was a scouting force," the Elder said grimly. "The Jokull's testing our capabilities. Learning our weaknesses."

"Shango's schlong." An Ologun sounded incredulous, surveying the battlefield littered with scorch marks. "In that was scouting, what's waiting for us deeper in?"

The silence that followed her disappearance felt unnatural, broken only by the groaning of stressed metal as Wilhelm's Scarab powered down its weapons systems. Steam rose from the mech's plasma cannons and the Sun Moon Cannon's barrel. The vintage machine had been pushed hard.

"Hey. Thanks for your Scarab," Jabari called up to Wilhelm as the pilot ran diagnostics.

"KM-227's got some fight left in her yet," Wilhelm replied proudly. "Sun Moon system held. Froze half of 'em solid, cooked the rest."

Around them, seven of their nine Ologun marines remained standing.

"Kimaris, status report," Laurent's voice crackled through comms.

"Good as I'll ever be," Thorin said, his voice still slightly hoarse from exertion. The colorless ichor from Astrid's wound had already begun to sublime into glittering mist, leaving no trace of their encounter save the ice formations scattered across the meadow.

"Scarab operational," Wilhelm confirmed, sealing access panels on his mech. "Cooling systems holding up. Old engineering beats new every time."

Ume moved with precision as she conducted her own diagnostics, though Jabari noticed slight tremors in her hands—aftereffects of Astrid's lightning attack. "My primary systems are nominal. Motor functions restored to 96% efficiency."

The comms crackled to life with Celine's voice from the Isazi. "Monitoring multiple communication frequencies. We have a problem."

Laurent's response was immediate. "Define 'problem'."

"My scrying shows residual Terra Alliance signatures near Mount Lyell, where the Moondust shard is. Specifically, a Space Rover's fusion signature entered the area just this morning."

The implications hit Jabari like a physical blow. "They're also here for the shard?"

"More than that," Celine continued. "I'm picking up Imperium military chatter as well. Something about 'containing the situation' and 'authorized access'. Whoever survived the Dragonfort's crash are regrouping."

Laurent's curse carried clearly over the comm channel. "Just what we needed."

Thorin adjusted the containment box at his hip, the Moondust shard pulsing in response. "If either faction reaches the Yosemite fragment first..."

"We can't let that happen," Jabari finished. "Do we have ways to scout ahead? See if the shard's already contested?"

"Elder, I can dispatch Krypts for reconnaissance," Amir's voice joined them through the comms. "See what forces we're dealing with, get eyes on their operation."

"Do it, Amir." Thorin commanded. "But carefully. If the Alliance and Imperium are here in force, we can't show our hand too early."

Wilhelm sealed the final access panel on his Scarab and wiped grease from his hands. "Question is, do we go in loud or try the sneaky approach? Because after that little display—" he gestured at the scorch marks around them. "—every Radi-Mon in the valley knows we're here."

"The Jokull and Fenris will be watching Mount Lyell as well," Thorin observed. "We should engage sparingly. Avoid drawing attention."

Jabari looked toward the distant peak, its summit wreathed in those storm clouds. Somewhere up there, another piece of the Moondust Crystal waited. But now they weren't just racing against the Radi-Mons. They were caught between human forces who'd had hours head start.

Meanwhile, his mind drifted. To Astrid the Ísmarr, her enchanting moist form, half human, half Radi-Mon, her words echoing in his memory: "Think about me."

"Jabari?" Ume was looking at him with concern. "You appear distressed. Are you experiencing aftereffects from the paralytic agent?"

Jabari realized he'd been staring at the frost patterns where Astrid had vanished, his mind wandering down dangerous paths. The ice was already melting, but something remained: a small puddle of water in the shape of a heart.

It could have been coincidence. Probably was coincidence.

"I'm fine. Just...processing what happened here."

Processing, he told himself firmly, not fantasizing. There's a difference.

"Wilhelm, take point with your Scarab," Laurent's voice ordered through comms. "Your instincts are always right on target."

"With pleasure," Wilhelm said cheerfully as he climbed back into his mech's cockpit, systems powering up with hums and whirs.

"Mount Lyell's a hard climb under the best conditions," Thorin was saying, pacing alongside Wilhelm's Scarab as it took the lead. "Keep your wits about you."

"We'll manage," Laurent's voice carried confidence through the comm. "We've handled worse odds before."

"That we have," Jabari said, keeping any doubt to himself.

But as they marched toward Mount Lyell's distant peak, Jabari found himself wondering if he'd ever get the chance to take Astrid up on that offer to "exercise together".

And more worryingly, he realized he actually wanted to.