The catch

"It's really is a spaceship crashing down from the sky."

I didn't hesitate as I started running toward the falling debris, hoping whoever was inside the spacecraft will still be alive after the emergency landing. Don't want to witness my first conscious being on this planet in hundreds of burned pieces.

I knew I should have probably warned my mother before leaving but I couldn't risk her of denying me this chance. I must see it.

The spacecraft should land approximately 20 km from my homestead by how the pilot was steering the engine under the wings. From the look of it, It had two engines on both sides. The ones on the right we're greatly damaged.

" I wonder what transpired?"

If the pilot is still alive, I can ask him. With all of my excitement, I forgot to realize the language barrier. He could survive the crash but it wouldn't mean that I could communicate with him. He might not even be able to converse with sounds. Some species convey messages with signals on their antenna instead of using noise from their mouth.

"Whatever... It wouldn't matter anyway if he dies. Better save him."

Inside the AK-200 frigate, a middle-aged man, with white skin and pointing ears, was pulling with all his effort of the wheels. Desperately struggling to raise the spacecraft before it crashes on the unknown planet from the outer realm of the galaxy, also referred to as the Dark region.

Not much is known about this zone. Few explorers are willing to make a long journey without a proper map. No ones really know the danger inside this sector. The empire and the other powerhouses before it didn't bother deploying resources and manpower to discover the dark region.

"Captain, the cooling system on engines three and four is damage." The ship AI spoke through the speakers.

"By the goddess... This is bad indeed"

Without the cooling system, it will be impossible to muster enough power to raise the frigate before overheating the motors. The only solution left was to transfer the cooling plasma from engine 1 and 2 into motor 3 and 4. It should temporarily stop the fire until the pilot lands safely on the ground to repair it.

"Transferring 50% of the cooling plasma into right-wing engines"A bright smirk appeared over the captain's face as the plasma was extinguishing the fire and reducing the motor temperature. Yet, his relief didn't last long as the alarm was triggered and all the computers were red, signaling two unknown spacecraft behind me.

"Captain, we have...""I know Vega. I thought we lost them. I'm giving you the wheels, make sure that we do not slam against the surface."

Without wasting any time, the captain wore his mask, which was customized to fit his long pointing ears, and climb on the ladder until he reached the turret over the main deck.

Immediately, he shot multiples beams of energy toward his two pursuers. They managed to dodge every shot that he made. Since the frigate was an old model, it possessed any lock system, making it harder to hit his enemies.

"May the goddess of light protect me" He prayed before the crystal fused behind his armor started to illuminate.

Time froze, as the man could feel his DNA changing inside his chromosome. Each cells in is body we're mutating. His original blue eyes turned purple. He could see every small detail from the turret scope like the dust following the wind's path or the slight rusting metal coming out of his adversaries frigates.

Gently squeezing the trigger, two energy beams were toward the left frigate at high speed. This time, the beam pierced through its right-wing and the second one punctured the left-wing. Both of them detached from the main body, resulting in it losing altitude and out of commission.

Lacking the time to aim his turret before the second frigate blasted a shot toward his capsule, he quickly slid down the ladder.

The impact demolished the turret and his only way to fight back, leaving him no option but to out maneuver it. Still, his engines will burn out if he tried. He really was out of alternative.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to think of a plan, as plasma beam penetrated through inside the main deck, damaging all of his equipment. He couldn't call for rescue if he survives to live this day.

"Sir, I lost control of the wheel. We roughly have 99.99% of crashing"

The captain rolled his eyes at the obvious conclusion.

"I'm sorry my king, I fail you today. I hope you will find in your heart to forgive this royal subject for his loss of bringing you the blood sample"

He spoke as he reaches inside his pouch to retrieve a small square crystal, which contain a drop of blood in the middle. He had the most important task to steal this artifact from the sentinel commander and carry it back to his kingdom.

He commanded thirty men in his vessels, thirty mercenaries that he hired for this mission. He couldn't bring his trained soldier, in fear that the Dark sentinel will uncover their treachery against the empire.

All thirty men perished in the initial assault of the convoy transporting the artifact into the city Utera on the asteroid Inus. His crew didn't know the danger of this journey. He knew but chose to be silence. He understood that most of them won't survive. As long as he could deliver the artifact to his king, it wouldn't matter if he live or die. Even that, he failed on his vow. His only choice is to break the crystal, stopping the empire to unlock all the secret of the precursor blood.

With a tremendous explosion, the space craft and its captain finally struck the bottom.

"Commander, the frigate is OFC"

"Perfect! Retrieve the artifact from the wreckage. I will be there at a moment notice. By the way, if the elf is still alive, do don't kill him. I want to have the pleasure of seeing tormented face as I rip his head from his corpse."