Chapter 1

Preface: This divergent will take place in a war like area. So it might contain stuff that some might find triggering and I would advise skipping this one. Although I will keep writing in my own style without certain terrible things that can happen, but fighting and blood will be present.

----CAUTION---

Breathing heavily, eyes blinded, ears ringing. Brahk felt tingling all over his body. Cold, wet and so hot that he could have a fever. Though it was tough to tell with everything else going on.

---

It took a while, Brahk couldn't be sure, but it felt like hours. Not just in this disoriented state, but also when he tried to imagine his moments before he got here. Soon it was time that his body and mind adjusted to what had happened. He could see the HUD, heads-up-display, on his helmet.

Suit is intact. Oxygen levels are… full?

It took a moment for Brahk to realize that he was currently on his back, facing the sky. A blue sky. On a planet that had a breathable atmosphere. Though he wasn't going to remove his helmet in case preliminary stats were wrong or damaged.

Sitting up hurt and made his head feel light. He looked around observing his surroundings. The planet he was on had buildings. Although they were primitive, that meant that life could persist. Made of stone, brick, wood, and mud. He could see fabric to keep out the sun. While considering the temperature showing on his HUD it was sitting at 42 C. Thankfully his suit could protect him.

Now taking a closer look at his suit, it was a wreck. 'Intact… really?' He thought when looking back at his HUD. The nanofibers and coated armor plating that made up his suit, not counting all the wires, were 'burned'. Not the right term, but the radiation had been intense. Melting and fusing the space suit. Though he wondered how he even survived, even the fact that there were no holes in his suit. Even the small pack he had while wearing the suit was still on him.

'The slipstream should have killed-. Well it should have.' The fact he was alive was a miracle. Taking a closer look over the logs on his data pad, he found that he must have activated the emergency signal. About half an hour ago. He couldn't remember activating it when his mind was still messed up. 'Which if it was that bad…" The sensors in the suit had stated that he had not received any injuries. Not a scratch, burn, or hole.

While he wasn't able to stand he focused on looking at the data. It was amazing to say the least. While some of the sensors were overloaded and destroyed, what remained could help them discover more ways to utilize the slipstream.

---

Two hours had passed. Brahk had gotten lost in the information he was looking over. He tried standing, still wobbly, but he was able to crawl over to a wall to lean on. Like the buildings that surrounded him, it was made with a variety of materials. The sensors on his hands were still working, although to a lesser extent. Mineral analysis showed that it was made with known materials. Not much difference in their internal structure.

To what he expected, there was no one home. Amenities were few and far between. He did find a metallic bucket that looked machine made. Which did surprise him, but that was because he expected something like that from the start.

Colonies that were sent out from Subhillaj had the capability to replicate machinery from the main ship. Fabricators being the main machine that would be built. It could change atomic structures to create whatever was needed from anything. The ultimate efficient machine. It would take a lot of energy to run, but with alien and human technology in the mix, it was far less than what anyone could have ever predicted.

So he expected machined items and tools. Modern tools that could be used. Buckets were not what he had in mind. Mud homes were not either. Even a hole for waste didn't even have pipes that he could follow back to a fabricator as it could use everything, even human waste.

While in the past he hoped that other nations on his home planet would have ventured out in space, he never heard anything like another kingdom or remnants of Subhillaj on the planet ever making contact. So to expect a random planet colonized by humanity, one that he landed on by random from the slipstream, was just insane. If it was another alien civilization that would be an amazing discovery. If there was one out there then there had to be a chance for more.

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Three buildings in total. Brahk had a look around the entire estate, if he could call it that. A living quarters; a place for domesticated animals, a guess from what he found; and a place dedicated to expelling waste, something he used himself. Further out there was a well and initial observations showed that it was dried up. If he had a drill, he could get more. Everywhere else was a desert. Sand and dust everywhere.

Staying there was out of the question. His implant pushed him to grab supplies and leave and he very much agreed. Wherever he was, he needed to find help.

Stripping the cloth from the place, Brahk created a satchel of sorts. He used the bucket to carry most of the small tools he found as anything could be useful. The full body space suit had enough energy to last a year, so he was fine on that end.

As he had already taken off the suit to use the 'restroom', generous name for what it was, the air was indeed safe to breath. He had already checked everything in those logs detected by the sensors and it wouldn't kill him. No bacteria in the air that could harm him.

---

The landscape was massive. No mountains or ocean. Nothing to even give him a sense of direction. He started walking towards where the sun was setting. It was already late. Not much longer until night time and a temperature drop. Tomorrow he wouldn't have to worry about the sun in his eyes.

Wandering through the landscape, Brahk's mind worried about his children and crew.

'Are they alright? Did they escape? Are Frevan and Dourga doing alright? What will they think when they hear about me?'

His mind swirled around those questions. Thinking about the worst and even the best.

'I did what I had to. The slipstream dropped me off here, so it had gone off. Mystreioj would have it all repaired by now. Sidarce should be keeping everyone together. Thevhei will make sure everyone is healthy. Glex will be keeping everyone honest.' That helped carry him on. It did pain him that he thought of his crew before his children at first, but then again he knew his kids had everything handled. Their lives were great without him. They were strong, he knew that.

---

Night came. His suit kept him warm and Brahk spent a little bit more time walking as there was a small area he planned to rest for the night. Using his bucket, Brahk dug a hole about his size. Not too deep. Then he laid the cloth he scavenged so that he could rest easy on the somewhat cushioned ground.

With the bucket and tools at his side, Brahk viewed pictures of his crew. The pictures he took with them. So that they could remember each other if they were ever to move on. Though that was more of an excuse. He never had pictures of his children, so these were more for him.

A picture of Sidarce having a conversation with Mystreioj at the table. She was smiling slightly and leaning close to the boy next to her. Thevhei was repacking and checking inventory of the various medical kits, really focusing on her work. Glex had his feet on the table somewhat near Thevhei as he leaned back playing a game on his data pad. Then off to the far right side a smiling Brahk looking into the camera.

The next picture showed Brahk's mouth open and the others looking towards him and the lens of the camera. They all looked slightly confused. The next one after that showed an embarrassed Sidarce, Mystreioj, and Thevhei, though for different reasons. Glex was more frustrated from his game than the picture itself.

---

The morning rolled around, along with a waking Brahk. The wind was picking up and his bucket had just flown past him. Trying to block the dust from his helmet he could see a helicopter landing. The noise was loud and it took him a moment to catch up to what was happening. Sleep had made him forget the past day, but now he remembered where he was.

Standing up quickly he watched humanoid lifeforms exit the helicopter. They fanned out in all directions.

Humanoid was wrong as they were human. Completely human from initial observation. Also it was easy to notice that they were either peacekeepers or military. Weapons and armor, along with tactics he had seen from videos from the war and colonies. Though nothing looked like what he expected.

Helicopters were something that he had seen from historical footage from his home planet. They were something that Greddub might have had, but Subhillaj had quickly advanced out of something as primitive as that. Though his mother never mentioned a helicopter specifically, it was clearly something old. Now this was in line with the bucket at least what he had inferred. Primitive, but clearly advanced to a point.

Now there was one of the humans heading towards him specifically while the others fanned out around him. His helmet was off and he had no hair. Either age, based on looks alone, or these humans did not have hair at all. Which would be interesting to see how their genetic history, if they weren't connected to Subhillaj or his home planet.

The body armor was nothing like his space suit or anything military personnel on the ship used. It was dyed in colors that matched the desert. Brown and tan with shades between there. The weapons the others were using, including the one strapped across the one heading towards him, was a projectile based weapon. Now from the desert theme it was colored in to match with the surroundings, he noticed notches where a clip would feed into the main body of the weapon. The man had a pack on his back that could feed electricity into it as it could be more akin to a rail gun, but it was tough to tell how the man was moving and the dust moving around them due to the helicopter.

It was easy to notice that none of the humans were being hostile to him. None of the weapons were pointed towards him.

The man was now in front of him. Although he assumed the human was a man based on everything he had seen. He spoke to Brahk in a strange language and dialect. Based on how the man was gesturing it was a question. There wasn't really a way to answer something he couldn't understand.

"I'm Brahk from Subhillaj. Are you a colony from there?" Considering the military personnel, that would be the right guess. However mostly clones were involved in colonization. They were as controlled with implants as criminals. So the AI would be somewhere on the planet and would have relays to the helicopter. Though his suit was showing no connection and his implant wasn't affected either way. It was a boon for him because if they told him to do something, he would have to regardless. At least he couldn't understand them.

The man then grabbed a communication device strapped to his shoulder and spoke into it. All while maintaining eye contact on Brahk. He looked him up and down. To which Brahk concluded that he was describing what he looked like to the other person using the same device.

He tried speaking to Brahk again, but again he couldn't understand. The man yelled and one of the soldiers surrounding them made their way towards him. Now it was quick, but Brahk noticed the different way the man… woman spoke. He could see her hair peeking out from underneath her helmet. So that meant that it was age… Anyway she was trying to speak to him using what he guessed as different languages. Something that those from Subhillaj wouldn't have to worry about. Everyone spoke the same language. So they might be humans that developed at their own place on their own planet separate from their own planet.

"I'm sorry, I cannot understand you. I'm… Brahk…" Emphasizing each letter in his name and the way it was pronounced. The woman then spoke back with what he assumed to be her name.

"Woph… Iremagren." She pointed towards herself then to the man standing next to her. So he was Iremagren. Turning back towards the woman, Woph, she spoke again. Although he didn't understand, it seems that she was asking him to follow them towards the helicopter. It was better than being out there alone with nothing so he followed them. With nothing indicating them to be hostile, his implant begged him to go with them.

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Once he was lifted into the air, Iremagren opened a canister. He took a sip of it, keeping eye contact with Brahk, then passed it to him. It was a gesture of goodwill and something his body needed. Though he had to take precautions. Wiping off the dust as best as he could in his space suit, he poured a little onto the sensors. It was water and very much safe to drink. His lips were already chapped, so he was very grateful.

He took off his helmet and drank the canister dry. That made his body relax, so he leaned back in the seat he was in. The helicopter was big and surprisingly it was able to carry the weight of eight people. A squad made up of five members, two pilots and himself. It brought him back to his crew and to how they were doing.

Though he never got to really think about it as Iremagren got his attention. Brahk gave the canister back, but apparently the man was trying to ask more questions to him. The aircraft he was on didn't help him understand. Though there were a few things that Brahk picked up on with an obvious gesture from Iremagren who was pointing at his data pad. Brahk had looked at it when he tested the water. So he showed it to the man. Nothing much was on it at the moment. Though because it seemed Iremagren was the leader here, he felt a connection to him. Words were something that neither of them could really use at the moment. So he thought about pictures.

Iremagren was sitting across from him. Since Brahk was strapped to the seat it was tough to angle his arm, but he did his best. The picture he showed the man was another of his crew. Thevhei was patching Mystreioj up as he had a burn on his leg. He had been down in the bowels of their small ship and got caught of one of the pipes. It seared through his clothes and Thevhei had to remove the fabric in his leg. Since it was a big deal, everyone was there. Sidarce was close to Mystreioj trying to hold back her emotions. Glex was in the background grabbing bandages for Thevhei while Brahk was prepping the nanites to be injected. While they should be used sparingly, the wound was at the level they were needed. A small amount to repair the damage. So as he was walking over he had taken a picture of the scene with a smile on his face. Everyone working together and staying strong.

The man in front of him was looking at the picture. Curious, then anything else. Brahk made sure to grab his attention as he gestured towards the other occupants in the helicopter. He was trying to say that he was a leader too. A connection of sorts to build upon. Well he tried to anyway. Iremagren had his attention taken away by his communication device.

Brahk looked outside and saw a wonderful sight. There was a city below him. Like the house he had woken up in, they were made in a similar way. Though there were metal structures mixed in there showing some form of advancement. Even glass windows. Although he was too far away to see if they were handmade or not, at least it was better than his initial guess.

Then one of the soldiers starts shouting. He was looking outside too and must have spotted something that spooked him. Although Brahk couldn't see the man's face, it was clear that something was wrong. Woph got his attention by telling him to move his head closer to his legs. He was confused and she took notice by shouting at him.

An explosion occurred, shocking him in his seat. The helicopter started blaring with noise and lights. The whole aircraft was now spinning and quickly losing altitude. He slipped on his helmet then held tight on the straps that held him in.