Djin

From the outer edges of planet XO-4, a strange vessel traveled through the void of space. The ship had a large bulbous middle, a curved tubular extension on one side, and an elaborate curved section on the other.

The elaborate curved section began just above the dish-like front attached to the bulbous middle of the ship. It curved back toward just past the middle of the ship where it connected. The very back of the ship came to a fluid point. Multi-colored gem-like protuberances emerged from the ship in various places.

The overall description of the ship would be graceful and opulent.

The interior of the ship was as opulent as the exterior. Although the gems seemed meant for their aesthetics, they lit up and were manipulated by the six inside.

Four large men and two elegant and voluptuous women sat around a holographic image floating above a small round table. These beings sat on magnificent carpets and pillows, demonstrating the artisans' skills who created the treasured accessories.

The clothes they wore were like silk and flowed gently around their bodies. Neither too loose nor too tight. Red, gold, purple, and white colors splashed regally upon their forms. The largest of the six had dark purple skin with gold irises. The three other men were fiery red, while the two women's skin color was sky blue.

These six people were the Djin.

"Qayid Eazim (Great Commander)," one of the red Djin began.

"HaJar Amar, speak," the dark purple Djin responded.

"The human beast planet XO-4 approaches. I have found a place to land in an arid region that will allow us to enter the planet undetected. Do I have your leave, Al-Qayid Al-Jabaar (Mighty Commander)?"

"You have my leave."

"What honor we are bestowed to establish a Bawaaba for the prince's forces. The humans will be purified by the fires of Tahara, and we will add newly inherited lands. These will strengthen the Empire!" The enchanting voice of one of the women echoed in the ears of the Djin.

One of the red Djin looked at the woman with flaming desire while she winked at him and made a coy giggle.

"The prince selected each of us for this holy mission. We cannot fail, the humans must be pushed back from this world. With this world's bounteous demon beasts and resources, the might of our armies will increase." The Qayad said.

"But to be successful, we cannot be detected. The planet has a human troop gate and a starship gate orbiting XO-4's moon. Both gates must be destroyed before we can activate our own Bawaaba ." A bulky red Djin commented.

"Nar Hakima, Khadim, and Hamsa will deal with the starship gate. HaJar Amar, Al Rahmanah, and I will establish the gate on the planet. Once activated amongst the human academy, I shall greet our magnificent prince!" The Qayad's eyes glowed with determination.

On XO-4 at Fort Spiral, the recruits had already spent their first month in BootCamp. Gaven's schedule left little time for sleep. In the mornings, he learned how to fight, shoot, use vehicles, beast taming, and so forth. In the afternoon, he worked as a research assistant on Project Black Turtle. In the evenings, he divided his time between squad matters and study.

Things were shaky at first, but the squad pulled together, and by working together, each member received positive reviews from the advisors in each department. When there were criticisms, the team worked together to find solutions to resolve the issue positively.

Currently, Deven is heading to the lab. He started to enjoy being at Fort Spiral; it was more interesting than when he was in school. Unfortunately, Deven, like many students, was an orphan due to the war with the Djin.

He grew up in a group home and then a shared housing unit when he reached high school. If there was one thing he didn't like about his life, it was how he felt he had little control. No matter the situation, he was always told what to do and how to do it. As a result, he lacked freedom; for Gaven, the lack of liberty unsettled him.

For the last month, Gaven has been analyzing the beast cores of various types of beast demons. His interest was piqued when he realized that no matter the kind of demon beast, the cores were the same except for specific key areas.

He brought the observation to the department head and was told to follow up on the research. They had already noticed this but hadn't concluded why it was like this. They called the research Deven was starting the "Newbie Killer" because all the ambitious newbies made similar discoveries. It was beast to let them get it out of their system so that they could concentrate.

A helpful table was created years ago by a researcher who found that identifying the type of demon beast was possible based on each core's unique aspects.

Deven was less interested in the deviations; he thought it was odd that these demon cores were so uniform. What function did uniform tunnels in the demon core serve? Reviewing years of research, no one was able to answer that question. If he could answer that question, humans could maximize the power of beast cores. Perhaps, the Ursang wasn't a dream. What if this were the key to unlocking the hope for ultimate human warriors? Warriors could stand directly against the Djin with nothing more than their physical bodies. That matched with human intellect; what kind of force would that be?

These were the naive dreams of a newbie. But these same dreams were shared by the many young men before him. Even the elder researchers once hoped that they would be the ones to unlock the secrets that would lead humanity to supremacy.

"Hey, Deven, still slogging through all that research from fifty years ago?" Amber Louding stood before Deven, smiling. She was only a couple of years older than him. Now that she and Deven held the same rank, she started to treat him like any other researcher. She was the youngest person researcher there until Deven arrived.

"You know me," Deven turned and smiled at Amber.

"If you'd like a break, why don't you come and look at something I've been working on? I could use a fresh set of peepers," she said with a laugh. Deven couldn't help but gulp as he saw her gently shake, as she laughed.

"Sure."

Amber was a researcher helping with Beast Soldiers' analysis. They were trying to understand why Beast soldiers could tap into and sync with multiple beasts.

The pair of researchers approached a research console with multiple screens. There were papers and pads all over the table like it was ransacked.

"Look, here," Amber pointed at something on the screen. Deven squinted as his eyes pointed at a strange blip.

"What am I looking at?" Deven finally asked.

"This blip, I realized, shows up whenever the Beast Soldiers connect with their demon beasts. See?" Flipping through one screen to another, she showed Deven numerous examples.

"And when they add their second beast, it looks like this, and here too. But look what happens when they add a third demon beast." Deven looked at the different examples. As each demon beast combined with the Beast Soldier, the Blips would increase in size, but each time a new demon beast was added, the weaker the increase. However, that didn't add up with the data, which showed an unbelievable increase in power from the Beast Soldiers.

Deven went through the images and data numerous times when he suddenly stopped.

"Hey, what's that?" Deven asked, surprising Amber.

"What?"

"Is that a blip? Right there around the Beast Soldier's abdominal region. See the belly button area. What is that?" Deven pointed at the screens as he cycled through. He compared the tiny blip to the previous combinations of Beast Soldiers, but the new blip only showed up with the addition of the third demon beast by the Beast soldier!

Amber's eyes widened; the blip was so tiny, but she had never seen it before, and no one had.

"Wait, I've seen that before, oh no, this...this, it's so exciting. Amber! We made a huge discovery, follow me; we need to confirm it!" Deven turned around and ran, leaving a confused Amber. However, her confusion didn't last long, and she quickly ran after the excited young man.