Celestial Nexus

The passing light brought with it a harsh wind, as the moon slipped into the earth’s shadow. The icy temperature was expected, as the Sea of Tranquility was the darkest pit on the moon, the perfect home for evil.

Ardae stood with his back to a ragged cliff, looking into the sea, wondering what secrets were hidden by its darkness. He started to shiver from the sheer depth of it. Slowly, he began to pull out his rifle. Its cold metal only acted to further his fear. He set up his infrared scope and gazed into the pit below, not knowing what to expect.

As Ardae shifted his view, he started to notice the red heat signatures of the Zyre. The Zyre had owned the moon for years now. No one knew where they came from, only that they appeared about 20 years ago. To the best of human knowledge, they were a race of robotic, sentient beings. They acted swiftly and without emotion, killing all the human colonies on Venus and the moon. However, that’s where they stopped: they made no effort to take the Earth.

No human had dared to venture onto the moon since the original Zyre invasion. Nonetheless, satellite images had detected the Zyre amassing massive amounts of soldiers and weaponry in the Sea of Tranquility. The High Council, humanity’s ruling body, had reason to fear the Zyre were preparing for a final onslaught to take the earth itself.

Ardae had spent his life as a long range hunter working for the military. Hunters were known for their stealth, trained from their birth to infiltrate and scout while remaining undetected. He had fought against the Zyre in the Citadel, humanity’s last stronghold on Venus. He had seen firsthand the cruel and unforgiving nature of the Zyre.

They attacked without warning. Within the hour, half of the Citadel had fallen. Human weaponry was completely ineffective. Bullets simply bounced off their metallic bodies. Their bloodlust caused them to kill any living creature: soldiers, women, and even children. Within two hours of the attack, the High Council gave the order to retreat. Four million lives lost in one afternoon. Centuries of human terraforming on Venus were gone. Now the High Council had tasked him with scouting the moon. His mission was to find out exactly what the Zyre were planning.