Chapter 26 - Strange Structure

It seemed as if something had radically altered in Moke Star.

Rodgraim, upon seeing the sunken ships on the ground, shuddered with an ominous feeling seeping into his chest.

As quickly as he could, he ordered the Predator unit to conduct a search around and to inform him at once of any unexpected things that might arise.

Rodgraim, in a cautious manner, walked towards the wrecked ship, Seraphina.

The Seven Star was an impressive vessel, great in size and built to support its crew on protracted travels in the Star Sea.

Rodgraim moved inside the ship, discovering that the red-haired girl, Seraphina, was now nowhere in view.

Fortunately, her accompanying Predator unit would not let her get lost.

Following the signal of the Predator, Rodgraim continued on the trail into the bridge of the ship.

When he entered the bridge, he felt it was empty.

Seraphina, on the other hand, was frantically pressing control panel switches to access the ship's log.

Her face indicated concern.

She worried about the safety of her eldest brother, etched concern in her visage.

Despite the very grizzly scene on the Seven Star, they had yet to find any bodies.

This light of hope could only mean that the crews of the Fleet could be alive somewhere.

In such a situation, the log book was very important for the ship.

It may reveal something about what happened to bring the ship to the present state it is in.

Not long after that, Seraphina managed to retrieve the log, and with that, they started to flip through the pages:

- Interstellar Era 6122, May 28:

"Our ship is heading to Moke."

- Interstellar Era 6122, June 23:

"We were attacked by Blackstone pirates. These pirates do not know when to give up!"

- Interstellar Era 6122, June 25:

"Pirates united! They became too strong to defend; we had no choice but to perform a space jump."

- Interstellar Era 6122, June 26:

"The good: The space jump was successful. The bad: Our energy system got destroyed, and we had to make an emergency landing."

- Interstellar Era 6122, July 1:

"We finally arrived in Moke. One day, we will take back what these space pirates took away."

The log abruptly ends there.

The last entry, dated the day they reached Moke, implied some sort of catastrophic event.

The ship had already been battered enough, and the strange conditions on Moke probably worsened their situation.

But what really happened?

This meant there were tens of thousands of crew members, and with such a large number of ships in the area, it was practically impossible for everyone to simply disappear.

The distress signal from the ship was still active, so it must have had enough power to send the signal before whatever disaster befell the ship.

Seraphina clenched her lips and steeled herself as her emotions went haywire.

Her elder brothers had always shielded her from harm and allowed her to grow up sheltered and innocent.

Theo, her eldest brother, ventured into danger quite often, his return trips carrying him bruised.

Dragion, the second eldest, manfully administered the affairs of the Ur house at the behest of the Sun Alliance.

They bore the heavy hand of responsibility, creating a safe haven for Seraphina.

But for now, with her brothers in the clutches of some psychopaths, all Seraphina could do was wait and worry.

Thinking in a vicious circle, Rodgraim's high-tech watch beeped to flash an urgent message from the Predator unit:

 "Report to the captain: A large biological source is approaching. Please return to the ship immediately!"

A big biological source? Rodgraim's brows furrowed.

Without hesitation, he grabbed Seraphina and started to rush back towards Aether Dominion.

If the Predator unit had sent out such a warning, then the creature approaching had to be enormous.

In interstellar travels, retreating to the ship was the safest move when in danger.

As they stepped aboard the Blue Moon, the desert around them began to shake violently.

The ground shook as though something massive was emerging from beneath. Feeling a sense of impending doom, Rodgraim activated his Black Panther Armor.

With the power of strength and speed coursing through his body, he picked Seraphina and leaped forward.

A sharp, menacing tooth exploded from the ground, confirming all of Rodgraim's worst fears.

He ran toward the Aether Dominion without even a hint of looking back.

He sped into the air as the Predator units boarded the ship.

From the safety of the Aether Dominion, Rodgraim finally got his first glimpse of the colossal creature causing the destruction.

A gargantuan sandworm rose to the surface, its mouth wide open, filled with knives of teeth in serrated array.

Its maw was hundreds of meters across, allowing it to swallow a frigate whole.

Even Rodgraim, hardened by peril in the Star Sea, was momentarily stunned at the end view of the monstrous creature.

This sandworm suddenly appeared on Moke. Could this be somehow related to the disappearance of the Fleet?

This sandworm, having devoured one ship, now burrowed back into the underground.

Its massive body slid beneath the surface like a subway system.

Rodgraim was lost in thought as he initiated the scanning systems on the Aether Dominion.

Maybe by following this sandworm, they could finally find the missing crew.

Such a creature could not have been from Moke, of course. A

n animal of this size would have evolved over at least 10,000 years.

Moke had been on the list of safe planets until now—something was most definitely wrong.

As Aether Dominion followed the sandworm, a great pyramid started to rise upon the horizon.

The structure's standing on Moke's surface made no sense.

What kind of thing did it signify?

As they drew nearer, the radar astonishingly revealed.

The massive sandworm wasn't the solitary figure it had seemed-the approaching pyramid was swarming with what looked like hundreds of converging sandworms.

Oddly enough, others were coming out from under the pyramid and moving off in different directions.

The activity was hive-like.

What was this pyramid? And why was this happening?

While Rodgraim was musing over the questions, the Aether Dominion's warning systems blared:

"Warning: The ship has been locked on."

On the surface of the pyramid, dozens of turrets rose into position, their menacing forms confirming Rodgraim's suspicions.

The sandworms were not natural creatures—they were engineered.

Before Rodgraim could analyze further, the turrets opened fire.

The Aether Dominion's crew braced themselves as the battle began.