Rift Guardians – a short story by Popi
Chapter 2: The Moon’s Secret
Rina’s boots crunched on Kael-9’s crystalline surface, each step sending fractures through the glassy rock. The moon was a graveyard of ships, their husks half-buried in shimmering dust. Her team—Cpl. Eli Park, Medic Josep, Sgt. Tariq “Riq” Alami, and Dr. Mara Voss—moved in diamond formation, enviro-suits humming against the planet’s toxic air.
They were the Aetherion’s sharpest edge, but none of them had been born for this. The Guardians life is not for the weak.
The Away Team
Lt. Rina Calder walked rear guard, plasma cutter slung low. She’d grown up in the Calder Drift, a chain of hollowed-out asteroids linked by mag-tethers. Her mother ran security for the ore haulers; her father vanished on a run to Proxima-4. At sixteen Rina stole a shuttle, tracked the pirate who’d taken him, and put a pulse-round through his visor. The Concord gave her a choice: prison or enlistment. She chose the rifle. Ten years later she still checked every shadow for her father’s ghost.
Cpl. Eli Park walked mid-pack, three micro-drones orbiting like fireflies. Born in Luna-Prime’s Server Farms, he’d been a ghost-code kid—debugging AI dreams for pennies. At twelve he crashed the colony exchange for 4.7 seconds to steal real coffee. The Concord “recruited” him at fourteen. His first mission on Titan-7 cost him ninety-nine drones and earned him a cracked lens he still carried as a charm. He spoke to machines like siblings; the Aetherion’s fire-control AI answered to “Sis.”
Medic Josep walked left flank, med-drone hovering at his shoulder. He’d trained on New Marseilles, a water-world colony where storms swallowed cities. His sister died in a med-evac crash he couldn’t prevent. He swore he’d never let that happen again. His cracked visor—hairline fracture from a drone blade today—was a reminder: fix the suit, fix the man, fix the mission. He patched wounds the way other people prayed.
Sgt. Tariq “Riq” Alami walked point, rail-spike launcher across his back. Raised in the underdecks of Al-Rihla Orbital Foundry, he learned stress fractures before words. His parents—demolition foreman and welder—taught him: “Everything breaks if you know where to hit it.” Vega-9 gave him stripes and nightmares: two squadmates lost to his own shaped charge. He agreed to this mission because Elara Voss looked him in the eye and said, “Bring my people home.” Riq’s Rihla Kiss micro-charges were love letters to physics.
Dr. Mara Voss walked center, psychic senses guiding them. Elara’s younger sister, she’d always been the sensitive one. On Europa-Station she’d mapped ice-quakes with seismographs and nightmares. The Concord flagged her psi-index at age nine. She buried herself in Xeno geology to stay sane—until the dreams started: violet eyes in the void, a key pulsing like a heart. She followed them here, to Kael-9, because the alternative was letting her sister die alone.
“Scans are useless,” Eli muttered. His drones stuttered in the EM storm. “It’s like pinging a black hole with a flashlight.”
Dr. Mara’s voice was strained. “The key’s there. But something’s guarding it.”
Rina’s rifle swept the shadows. Riq knelt, gloved fingers tracing a fracture. “Pressure plate. Whole plateau’s rigged.” Eli’s drones confirmed a seismic trigger.
Josep checked vitals. “Heart rates spiking. Stay frosty.”
The Spire
The spire loomed, symbols crawling like insects. Eli sent a drone ahead; it returned scrambled. “Power signature inside syncing with the Maw. Whatever is down there, it’s on the creature’s speed-dial.”
The ground trembled. Skeletal drones rose—red eyes, monomolecular blades. “Contact!” Rina shouted. Blades flashed. Eli’s suit tore: blood hissed. Josep dragged him behind a freighter hull, sealing the breach while Rina and Riq fired.
Riq slapped a Rihla Kiss onto a drone. “For Vega-9.”
BOOM! Shrapnel sang.
Eli, teeth gritted, jacked his neural shunt into his dying drone. Eyes rolled white. “Not today.” Three enemy drones turned, fired on their own. “That’s for the coffee.”
Dr. Mara raised her hands. Her nose bled. There was a white flash. a Psychic wave shattered the rest. She collapsed. Riq caught her. Josep checked pupils. “Concussion. She’s out.”
Eli’s HUD screamed: TUNNELER INBOUND – 60 SECONDS.
Inside The Spire
He warned the rest of the Guardians. They moved Inside the spire. There they found the shard, pulsing violet. Rina reached for it. Dr. Mara, half-conscious said, “Alive.”
Eli jacked into the wall. Alien code scrolled. “Neural lock. Needs handshake.” HIs shunt glowed. Symbols flared. The floor hummed.
Riq: “Told you not to poke it.”
Josep: “Seismic spike coming. Something big.”
The Spire erupted. A second rift formed. Shadows poured out. Riq fired the rail-spike. Eli overclocked his last drone and dove it down—a kamikaze into the new rift. Rina grabbed the key. She saw visions of dying stars, she saw Elara’s eyes.
“Move!” Josep carried Dr. Mara. Riq laid daisy-chain Rihla Kisses. They sprinted.
On the shuttle with Eli at the controls, Riq on turret, the team made their escape. “Next time,” Eli panted, “we bring a bigger firewall.” Riq: “And a bigger hammer.”
Once docked, Elara met them. Eli collapsed. “Captain… next time, real coffee.”
Back aboard Aetherion, the crew prepared to face their next challenge.
(to be continued)
Coming Soon – Rift Guardians chapter #3 – Into the Void
Start at the beginning – Rift Guardians chapter #1 – The Rift
Table of Contents
From Popi’s Tales & The Book of wonders
More from Popi’s Collection of Facts & Fiction:
- Burtt the Blade – fiction
- Doh – Rey – Me – fiction – book – written here
- Mystery of Willow Woods – fiction – short Story – written here
- The Last Signal – part one – fiction – book – written here
- Shorty’s Path – non-fiction auto biography book
Other Short Stories for the young at heart: