The next month unfolded in firefight and tension. Orion worked side by side with the soldiers, threading through the ruins, dismantling traps as old or perhaps even older than known human civilization.
Some were mechanical, blades triggered by pressure plates. Others were far more sinister… energy snares that lanced the air with light, shifting tiles that swallowed men whole.
Others simply exploded if you stepped in the wrong place and somehow although the body is turned to ashes the person on the very next step feels nothing.
So far they were unable to see any discernible pattern so each one had to be studied, disabled, and harvested.
It didn't take long for Orion to realize just how much profit they were getting of them.
Every mechanism he helped recover would be shipped back to Helix Corp labs, to be reverse engineered and either sold as blueprints or put into production.
Factories would one day churn out copies of what they found here, new weapons and defenses for the highest bidder.
From the little information Orion gathered from the mercenaries… if sold independently, each blueprint could've fetched millions which would be thousands what Helix Corp paid them.
But Orion kept quiet.
While he wanted to have a share of the profit there was really nothing he could do so he simply focused on his goals.
He was here to learn, to survive, and to build a foundation for his future and maybe one day he would be just like them.
And he was learning fast. Watching and listening to the mercenaries and soldiers fight and work taught him how professionals moved and valuable information.
At first, they treated him like shit, like dead weight, but as he proved himself with his steady hands and sharp instincts, their respect grew, and they went from calling him OX-6002009 to OX although they still hadn't bother asking him what he called himself.
By the end of the month, 2/7th of his debt was cleared meaning he was three to four months from becoming a free man and becoming a second class citizen or as it was called real citizen.
***
The first sign of trouble wasn't visual, but sound. A low, distant roar, like thunder rolling across the skies.
At first the engineers thought it was a storm… until the soldiers and mercenaries stiffened, their comms lighting up with urgent chatter.
The roar grew louder, sharper, layered with a screeching undertone that clawed at the nerves.
"More of those weird creatures?" One of the engineers asked nervously.
A few days ago they encountered one of the said creatures for the first time, hunched, semi-quadrupedal creatures with two dominant arms and two shrivelled ones with coarse skin and distorted howls and subsonic growls that seemed to disorientate any living creatures.
It took them almost two dead squad for them to realized something was wrong and even then, they were still unsure of the numbers of said creatures in these ruins.
So far less than 5 has been killed and each had various differences that made it seem like each of them were from entirely different races.
Before anyone else could further speculate impact tremors shook the ground… distant crashes that shook dust loose from the ruins.
Orion felt his stomach drop. He had never heard it before and there was no way Helix Corp would drop something so heavy on something they perceived to priceless.
Which could only mean one thing… something terrible had arrived.
"Swarm!" one of the mercenaries barked, his rifle already in his hands. "Chrysalith fleet in orbit!"
Panic rippled through the ruin.
The air cracked with the unmistakable sound of orbital fire, bright lances slashing the sky.
Scouts reports came in soon enough, "Enemy landers breaking atmosphere, bugs deploying ground-side. Prepare for battle… may god be with you."
The guards formed up immediately, barking orders, herding the engineers back toward the carrier's landing zone.
Orion ran with them, boots pounding against the stone causeway, heart hammering.
The noise overhead was deafening now… gun shots, shrieks, impacts, the sky alive with streaks of fire.
Then the first Chrysalith broke through the canopy.
It was a nightmare given flesh: six jagged limbs, carapace glistening black, mandibles gnashing. It slammed into the causeway with bone-cracking force, scattering the first line of guards.
Gunfire erupted, tracers streaking through the dim light, tearing chunks from the creature's shell. More shadows moved above.
They weren't just in orbit anymore… they were here... On the ground... With them.
"Keep moving!" someone shouted.
Orion ducked low as another bug landed in a spray of rubble.
He clutched his tool pack with one hand and pulled the dagger out of his trousers with his other one, though he knew it would be useless against these things.
He moved closer to the Group leader since that would most likely be the safest place.
The guards fought with everything they could, rifles barking, blades flashing when the creatures pressed too close.
Still, every minute brought more enemies, pouring in from the jungle and the skies alike.
The route back to the LZ collapsed into chaos.
The ships there were lifting off in a desperate attempt to escape orbit before the swarm fully descended and destroyed it.
Orion's chest tightened and so did other personnels… they were leaving.
"Don't worry, they will return to pick us once all the groups are gathered in a location… staying there would make them sitting ducks and it wouldn't do us any good if our ride back are destroyed, now will it?" The leader of the group explained in an effort to calm everyone down.
The group leader looked back for a second to check if everyone was with him when one of the Chrysalith grabbed him and ripped him apart in front of him, his battle suit torn like paper.
Orion stumbled backwards as guts and body fluid slashed everywhere, barely dodging a claw that cleaved the ground.
He watched as the creature smashed the group leader's corpse around almost destroying it completely.
Orion did not wait to see the aftermath as he bolted further into the ruin, he could hear one of the creatures chasing him.
He ran past the secure location and deeper into the ruins… thankfully the half-destroyed defences were doing something and slowing down the creature… unfortunately, the continuous dismantling and weaken the defences so much that they were too weak to actually kill the creature.
Orion did not realise how hard he was clutching his toolbox as he darted into corridors without much thought.
Realizing there was no way he could escape the creature, Orion scanned the current corridor he was running through and darted into a small opening carved into the ruin's foundation.
Lungs burning and mind reeling he would do anything to get out of the killing field.
He slid down a chute, the sounds of battle muffled behind him. For a moment he thought he had found safety… until he hit stone hard and rolled into the dark.
The chamber he landed in was half-collapsed, broken walls sparking faintly with dead circuitry. It smelled of dust and old metal.
In the center of the room lay devastation: corroded items that looked like consoles, cracked tanks, scorched flooring some of the equipment looked like they had decomposed completely which was strange.
It looked like a laboratory long ago before it was destroyed.
Everything was wrecked beyond repair and so aged that one of the parts he stepped on turned to dust, all except for one thing… A sphere.
Perfect, untouched, resting in the center like it had been waiting.
Orion moved towards the sphere carefully… He kicked it a bit to make sure it wasn't an egg before picking it up.
He looked around before looking down at the sphere, he sighed as he finally dropped his toolbox and sat down.
'It still in pristine condition after so many years without any maintenance.' He shook it around a bit, 'It in a better shape than any other thing I have seen so far in this ruin.'
He paused for a second and listen, he could still barely make out sounds from outside… from screams to gun shots, the shriek of Chrysalith and explosions.
'Since I am going to be here for a while might as well see what this is.' Orion thought as he slowly opened his toolbox as he tried to ignore his shaking hands.