End of an empire

Touchdown

The ship bounced as Terek touched down on the low gravity of the asteroid, Katie and Lily hovered above them watching out for any threats, He slipped into his space suit and exited the ship. Grabbing the mining bot, he activated the AR element of his suit's helmet and scanned the horizon. Grá appeared beside him, a blaster rifle in his hand.

" Do you see anything?"

"No, what are you doing?"

"I'm helping, I don't want you to die, Katie and Lilly can only do so much up there, and I didn't want to face any danger alone."

"Fine, don't get too close though, don't want blood mixed in with the ore's" Terek sighed, continuing the careful scanning for anything of value. After 1 or 2 minutes, the scanner picked something up 3 km to their south. With a sigh, he busied himself setting up the mining bot, the cable could only be so long. After replacing the chute to the ship with a large bag, he called out to Grá

"Let's go, we have to get going if we want to get this done quickly." And with that, they started the hike.

3 km and several hours later they were almost there, the barren grey asteroid was filled with mountains and valleys that slowed them down, but finally, they were almost there, they just needed to go over one more mountain and Terek could finally hook up the bot and have a rest. Barely able to breathe, he and Grá finished their final ascent, gasping for breath, it took Terek a couple of seconds to realise Grá was staring at something. A ship was buried deep into the surface of the asteroid, flames still feeding off the fuel from the ship, It must have crashed in the early hours of the mornings before Terek woke up. He glanced at Grá, hoping his military career could help.

"No one could've survived that crash, right?" Grá chewed his lip uncertainly,

" I don't know, there's still oxygen, otherwise the fire would have died. Either way, we should proceed with caution" He answered. He pulled out his walkie talky,

"Katie, Lily, do you copy?"

"Loud and Clear Grá"

"We need you to be on high alert, we are approaching a crashed ship with potential hostiles, over"

"Copy that, be careful, alright? Over"

"Will do, Grá out," He said, placing the walkie back In its pocket.

"Alright, let's go"

After sending the bot back to the ship, Grá and Terek bounced down to the base of the mountain, as they approached the ship they could make out more details. The ship rose above them, a large "Nemesis" was painted on the side in grey, the entire ship was in a v shape, propelled by the engines at the bottom of the ship, weapons dotted the exterior of the ship, and Bodies littered the surrounding area, all wearing a strange uniform with a heart-shaped mask. Finally, they made it onboard, several more bodies littered the floor here, burned beyond the hope of recognition. They found their first survivor in the crew's quarters, they must have been asleep when they crashed, Terek was glancing around, looking to see if there was anything to scavenge when he tripped over the body, he turned around glaring at them when he noticed their chest was moving, yelling out to Grá he checked the pulse. Feeling the touch, they came to.

"Are you here to rescue us? Did the President send you?" Knowing they probably won't make it, Terek tried to comfort the poor soul.

"Uhhh yeah, we're here to bring you home."

"Good, good. Don't forget the prisoner, they have valuable information."

"Don't worry, we have everything under control, go back to sleep." A relieved sigh escaped their lips, their pulse fading. Knowing that it would be pointless to try to save them, Terek stayed with them until their last breath left their lungs. Sighing, he made his way through the ship, Grá trailing behind them, hoping to find the prisons, and wishing that he wouldn't have to see a 4th person die that week.