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Out Of This World
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A faint scratch, hard rubber on harder steel. Someone was very close. The alien crouched, extending its razor-sharp talons. It sniffed the air. Nothing. Strange. Humans always left a smell, a mix of organic stench, motor oil and gunpowder. It didn't hear anything either, past that first sound. Humans would normally blunder around, their wargear thick and clumsy. It was confused. Then, a motion caught its lateral eye, so fast it could only evade it by a hair's width. Pain in its arm. A scratch. Its anger flared, as it faced its assailant.
The man was clad in a dark gray combat suit, with a faint yellow light diffusing from the visor of the full helmet he wore. A large pistol hung from his hip, but he had chosen to face the alien with a large army knife, its monomolecular edge gleaming in the failing neon light. He lunged again with blinding speed. The Lancer blocked, barely, then set to attack itself. The man evaded the blow, and his boot cracked against the alien's ribcage, splintering bone. It howled, bounding back. The human was strong. Much stronger than it should be. Its suit wasn't powered in any way. How could he strike so fast, with such power ?
It roared, grasping a nearby steel crate. It lobbed the heavy object at its opponent, hoping to crush him. The crate exploded, revealing the human, unharmed. He hadn't made a move since the kick. The Lancer's mind raced. What was happening ? What ...
A buzz resonated in its mind. A Mind contact ... Pain. Everywhere. Its vision blacked. When its sight returned, it was crumpled on the ground, wheezing. The human was an inch away from its face. It bared its fangs in defiance, only to wince in agony. A steel grip was set on its throat, as strong as the one on its mind. The human effortlessly lifted the 600-pounds creature, and lifted his wicked blade.
"What ... Who ? H-how ... ?" snarled the alien, its tongue forming the strange words with difficulty. Gabriel Kravinski tilted his head, smiling behind his visor at the Lancer's incomprehension.
"The rules have been slighlty altered, I'm afraid. Fear will soon change camps. You and your ... recently dispatched comrades have only witnessed the beginning of what is to come. The Gift isn't only your kind's and the wretched Enubis'. In your hands, it is wasted, spoiled. In ours ... It will allow transcendance. Witness a new god, alien", he spat.
He threw the Lancer at the wall, breaking armor and bone on concrete. With one swift and fluid motion, he skewered the alien to the wall with his knife. As its dark, rich blood escaped and quickly pooled on the ground, the creature felt something quite new. Fear, pinning it down harder than the blade. Gabriel lifted his automatic pistol, levelling it at the alien's face.
"Yes. I can feel it too. As it should be." The words had been wispered directly into the Lancer's thoughts. Its four eyes widened. It blinked. Once.
"Positive." Aelin signed, and looked at the usually excitable and cocky redhead that stood at attention on the other side of her desk.
"Another failure... All the reports said..."
"The reports likely were out of date due to the black hole we discovered a few systems back... or so the specialists tell me. It may have distorted the images we saw. It was clear that the planet supported life at some point, but some sort of storm has been ravaging it. The air was almost the same as Earth's, and certainly breathable, but the planet was completely barren."
Aelin stood from her desk and walked to the viewport in her fath... her office. A large orb of brown floating in a sea of stars. Even from this distance, Aelin could see the storm clouds roiling across the planet.
It had been hard, the months since her father's death. She couldn't say it out loud, but she knew she wasn't meant for this. He was supposed to lead the fleet, and she was in charge of the exploration. Now, she was in charge of the fleet, and she'd turned to the only person she really felt she could trust to lead the exploration efforts. Something, said person, was dutifully doing alongside her other responsibilities.
"You know..." Aelin jolted out of her reverie by the words that were far closer than she expected. Aelin turned around sharply to see Mara Corsin only a few feet from her. The redhead laughed lightly at Aelin's reaction.
"You shouldn't be that jumpy in your position. Imagine if the crew or colonists saw you."
Aelin frowned, overcoming the initial shock.
"And you shouldn't be sneaking up on me like that."
Mara rolled her eyes and walked up next to Aelin, looking out the viewport. "You once told me that we'd find a new home, and no matter what happened on Earth, we'd be safe here in the unknown reaches of space." Aelin stayed silent, but Mara seemed to take that as license to continue. "We've been doing this for months, and each planet is dead as dead can be. No word of home, no sign of other sentient life, but for... well, yeah... and just a continued mission to keep looking."
Aelin winced as her friend danced around the issue of the random attack that took her father's life. They still didn't know where the alien ship had come from, just that it was there, and then it was destroyed, but not before doing significant damage to the bridge... that her father was standing on.
"So, yeah, we haven't had any success yet, but I don't care Aelin. As long as you want to keep doing this, I'm going to support you through it. Just point me to a planet, or let me know what my fighters need to destroy, and it'll happen. Don't get down on yourself, cause you've got people like me who believe in you, and will do anything to make your dream come true."
Aelin blinked once, then twice. "My dream, but it's my fath..."
"No Aelin, your dream. Your father might have started this, but I didn't agree to join this mission because your dad asked me. I agreed because you asked me. You had enough faith in your father to invite me to join in, even knowing the risks and stupidity of the mission. If you weren't sure his goal was worthy, I'd be back home on Earth. I'm not the only one who thinks that way either. There are a lot of us who put our faith in Commander Aurias, not Admiral Aurias. So just remember, whenever you get down, we're all here to make sure you stay the course."
"And to kick my ass to ensure it happens?" Aelin asked, a small smile on her face.
"Well, duh! Just cause you're head of the fleet now doesn't mean I won't kick your ass if you screw up!"
Aelin felt herself relax, and just enjoy the company of her friend as they saw the storms swirl on the planet before them. It was good to have friends, she thought. Very good indeed.
3rd place, we have @sanjaya666 with Xenosuit
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/xenosuit
This one caught my attention leafing through the equipment because it felt like the right equipment for this story, and it also felt like it could be 'drafted' into any type of deck build, not just the humans. Nice work on this card!
Congratulations @sanjaya666! Pm me or post here 3 cards you would like me to favorite.
2nd place, we have @ASubtleGhost with Trevor Klenn, the Expert
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/trevor-klenn-the-expert
Trevor Klenn felt like the Han Solo of this story, but of course, wasn't Han Solo nor was Trevor's background close to it. It just FELT like Trevor is a bad@$$. The card was flavorful and it looked like a lot of fun to play, and very 'blue' like. Nice work!
Congratulations @ASubtleGhost! Pm me or post here 4 cards you would like me to favorite.
1st place, we have @RayEarthIX with Kiera Fox, Chevalier
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/kiera-fox-chevalier
I just felt that this card was very creative and useful. In this type of a setting, there would be all sorts of vehicles, so a creature that helps with your crew cost is simply amazing. simple, and amazing, that was this card, and it edged out Trevor Klenn because of it (though I immediately loved the Trevor Klenn card do not get me wrong!)
Congratulations @RayEarthIX! Pm me or post here 5 cards you would like me to favorite.
In addition, I will also be getting ahold of @modnation675 to award you with 1 month of premium membership since this contest was a part of the group hug contests during the month of march. Again, congratulations! The 1 month of premium is yours to do what you want with, either use it for yourself, or have @modnation675 give the premium to someone else that could use it, the choice is up to you.
Thank you for participating in this awesome contest guys. The entries was wonderful. I favorited just about every entry that came to this contest, there was several good cards submitted.
The contest is over, but the lore/story is not. Please continue with the story until interest phases out. You can still create cards for this story as well. Thanks for participating, and I will be dropping in to check up on the story as well and add to it from time to time, but ultimately this story is all being created by you guys. Thank you for your creativeness and hard work!!!
Keep on cardsmithing, and please stop by my ongoing contest "Cards of MtgCardsmiths: The Saga Continues!"
ps keep a lookout for my new contest to come up in the nearby future. For now, relax and have some fun making cards of other cardsmiths you are friends with or respect (or both) on here! It's all in fun.
Just message here or via PM what you want to do with the prize. Thanks for entering!
@sorinjace - thank you for the selection! Now I need to think of more cards so the story can keep going. Frontier needs to find a new home eventually!
1st, by sorinjace: a card made for the "cardsmiths of MTG" challenge that provides different effects if used by humans or aliens.
2nd, by me, a new vehicle for the Earth Humans to use in defense of the planet. The VF-26 Fujin is a technical marvel put together by engineers of the HuaNiti Protectorate (the territory of Earth that is now China, Japan, Korea and the rest of Southeast Asia). The Fujin can transform from robot mech, to fighter, and has a VTOL mode in between. However, the design, which is highly focused on mobility, lacks serious armor. As such, many pilots from other regions of Earth view it as a death trap. It's highly versatile but if a pilot is not prepared to receive or dodge incoming attacks, they won't last very long.