Page 1 of Rescued By the Alien Acolyte

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Loelle

The twin suns burnhot over the Aridium droughtlands. Just like every other scorching dawn on this forsaken desert planet. Most settlers wisely keep to the safety of the shielded outstations when the day’s heat reaches its merciless peak. But us smugglers don’t have that luxury out here on the trails. One day I’ll have enough to give up this life, but until then, wherever the credits take us is where we survive… or don’t.

I give my plan one last look—it’s a simple mission, fetch and secure the goods by following the route Drix mapped. That was until we got tangled up by this unexpected sandstorm. Just our bloody luck to catch a swirler bursting out of the droughtland with no warning. The ominous crimson clouds rolling in on the horizon promise a sand-scorcher is brewing, not some minor dusting we can outrun.

“You sure about this job, Loelle?” The gruff voice of my business partner, Drix, crackles over the dunerunner’s comm.“Couldn’t be worse timing sliding into Terrax during a blasted sandstorm.”

I squint against the harsh glare, pulling my scarf tight around my face to shield from the sand that whips around my dunerunner. Every breath tastes of grit, and the dry wind tugs at my clothes and hair.

“When has the timing of our runs ever been perfect?” I shoot back, starting my dunerunner’s engine. “You worry too much for an old space hound. I’ve got us through worse storms than this thanks to my racing days.”

My thrusters ignite with a roar, swiftly followed by Drix’s engines rumbling behind me. We hover over the dune sea with me taking the lead, charting a southern course straight to the capital, Terrax. And right into the gathering storm.

“Yeah, well, those late nights hauling contraband through the slums on Huxaria was one thing,” Drix grumbles. “But this is Aridium, and we’re stuck on now, kid. You know the stories about what happens on this blasted rock.”

I can’t help but snort at his superstitious rambling. Space hound or not, Drix’s just full of tales after too many cycles burning hull in hyperspace.

“Please, spare me another one of your hokey sun gods catastrophe myths,” I say with a snort. “We both know those stories are just scrappers’ tales to scare off anyone too skittish to navigate these droughtlands.”

“Maybe true for some,” Drix grumbles. “But even the most hardened scrapper gangs give Cinder Ridge a wide berth these days. And it ain’t just about those old colony myths this time.”

I roll my eyes. “Those desert cult loons still ranting about awakening sun gods?”

“From what I’ve heard, they’re far more organized than just raving fanatics now,” he warns grimly. “Whole operation basedout of Cinder Ridge—capturing anyone unlucky enough to cross their path. Heretics, they call them.”

That gives me pause. While most dismiss the Solara Nexus as harmless desert madmen left over from failed colony days, there’s been too many whispers about them becoming a real threat—raiding outlying settlements, taking prisoners for their “cleansing” rituals.

“So just another bunch of scavengers robbing anyone straying into their den,” I conclude flatly. “All the more reason to rush this run and loop around their turf.”

Drix’s uneasy silence speaks volumes. Out here, falling into the clutches of the usual underground gangs is one thing; at least you’ve got a chance to bargain if they want salvage or slaves. But landing on the Nexus’ blacklist as a condemned “heretic”? That’s a fate worse than slow death on this wasteland.

“Just keep us right on Terrax’s location,” I mutter, pushing aside the imaginings of their depraved purging rites. “With luck, we can slip through this gust unnoticed and be cityside before their patrols catch wind of us.”

The swirler storm quickly envelops us in churning rust winds. Even my blast visor can barely cut through the stinging chaos. Too late to turn back now.

I keep my eyes locked on the navigation beacon, revving my thrusters to the redline and keeping close to Drix. This isn’t my first time blazing a trail through hell and coming out scorched on the other side. And if things get too hairy, Drix and I have scratched out of sandier jams before.

“Watch yourself, kid!” Drix warns suddenly over engine roars and storm shrieks. “Sensor ghosts at two clicks and closing!”

A sick lurch twists in my stomach as three radar pings light up behind us. Dunerunners don’t usually register on scans this far out in the droughtland. Which means we’ve just been ambushed by some uninvited company.

Three Dune Marauders rip out of the crimson chaos, their high-impact stun-blasters already firing concentrated plasma fury in bursts past us. These desert pirates probably made this whole sandstorm just to trap us in this corner of the dunes!

“Fuck!” I slam my runner into evasive loops and corkscrews, saturating our rear with blinding chaff flares. “Those buzzards are packing disruptors! Ride the swirl and shake them!” I shout, gripping the controls tighter. My heart races as adrenaline surges through my veins.

A sharp turn nearly throws me from my seat, but I hold on, muscles straining against the force. “Damn it, Drix, where are you?”

“We need to split,” Drix replies, his voice tense.

It’s risky but I trust Drix, so I split off in the opposite direction, leaving the confused raiders to joust amid their useless cannon barrage saturating the sandstorm. If we can just lose them in the dune crests and troughs, maybe—

An ear-splitting blast rips apart the storm behind me. I’m slammed sideways by the shockwave, fighting wildly to keep my runner from corkscrewing out of control. Through the hurricane of whipping dunes and flying debris, I glimpse one of the alien riders silhouetted against a blinding green glow—some kind of cylindrical cannon’s barrel slowly rotating to track me.

Fuck, these aren’t just scrappers out for our cargo! They want Drix and me dead!

My comm crackles amid the loud static as I wrench my runner back under control. But there’s no responding signal from Drix—only the sickening realization that the glowing wreckage strewn behind me… used to be Drix’s runner.

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