Fiction – Der Ringkrieg

23. June 20264. July 2026

Fiction – Infinity N5 “Farewell”

Ilya came to his senses as adrenaline jump-started his body. He was lying on his stomach in the dust, but he was not alone. A bestial stench washed over him, and something huge … no, something gigantic sniffed at his back. He heard rocks crack and felt the ground shift as the megabeast turned away, apparently uninterested in the little morsel of food.

Ilya dared to open an eye, blinking away a crust of dust or dried blood. He saw the bulk of Bubbles’ – who the hell named something monstrous like this “Bubbles”!? – massive body moving past as if in slow motion. It stopped here and there to sniff at something on the ground, once moving aside a chunk of rubble that must have weighed several tons with a casual flick of the paw. It felt like a week until it finally vanished between the ruined walls that encircled the area.

19. June 20266. July 2026

Fiction – Infinity N5 “The Lair of the Beast”

Go To Part 3 “Lack of Intelligence”

After the raid on the laboratory both Haqqislam and Druze forces are congregating on the final target: Ruby Monday’s treasure cache.

Kleio ignored the curious looks of the one the mercenaries called “Fiddler”, but it worried her that the inquisitive and hyperactive engineer had taken a special interest in her persona. Due to their ever-changing rosters, infiltrating a transient “Brawler” mercenary company was notoriously easy, but that didn’t mean it was without risk. This was the third time now she was trying to mess with this crew’s operation, and something was bound to go wrong sooner or later.

Kleio had already taken more time than she wanted to get into position again. She knew Saladin had faced the Druze at Bureau Lakshmi’s secret research facility without her help, but time had simply been to short. She spared a moment’s thought for Ilya, and felt surprisingly relieved that he hadn’t been hurt in that engagement.

As they approached the coordinates where Ruby Monday had supposedly hidden her cache of xenotech artifacts, the lieutenant gave orders to spread out and cover the site. To Kleio’s eyes, it looked like the remains of a huge dome that had collapsed and blanketed the area in debris. She moved away from the group and slipped behind an old piece of wall that still protruded from the ground. Out of sight, out of mind — perhaps the engineer would stop worrying about her.

10. June 202619. June 2026

Fiction – Infinity N5 “Lack of Intelligence”

Go To Part 2 “Conscription”

Ilya woke up on a camp bed and didn’t know where he was. A moment of panic welled up as he remembered the hulking TAG coming into view and the pain in his shoulder just before the lights went out. He couldn’t move his right arm and reached over with the other, feeling the delicate mesh of a medi-silk bandage.

“Careful, the tissue is still regenerating.”

Ilya turned his head towards the voice and saw Kleio sitting on a folding chair, combat boots up on some medical supply box. A canvas wall stretched up behind her, meeting a low ceiling of the same material. He tried to focus on her face, but his eyes didn’t cooperate, probably due to the cocktail of healing drugs coursing through his body.

“Where am I? What happened?”

30. May 20266. July 2026

Fiction – Infinity N5 “Conscription”

Go to Part 1 “A Sāchā’s Love”

One of the clues in Ruby Monday’s treasure hunt led to a group of ravers and an illegal rave out in the desert. An Haqqislam team clashed with Druze mercenaries over the information those ravers carried and emerged victorious.

Ilya felt lost. He was sitting on one of the many boom boxes scattered around the site, but the music was off, the lights were out, and dawn was creeping up the sky. Most of the ravers had fled and been replaced by medics and technicians, who were were tending to the wounded and broken. One of the techs had deactivated the antipersonnel mine that had been sitting malevolently close to Ilya for the last couple hours. He was grateful for that, but it also meant that Kleio was gone now. She had melted into the crowd of soldiers and professionals without so much as a goodbye, leaving Ilya alone, unsure what to do and where to go.

A tall man approached him. He was clad in army fatigues, sported a neatly trimmed black beard and had long hair pulled back into a knot at the back of his head. He didn’t show any insignia, but carried an unmistakable aura of authority.

“You are good, son?” He looked Ilya up and down and seemed satisfied that the Sāchā wasn’t hurt.

“Yes, sir, I’m fine. Who are you? What happened here?” Ilya couldn’t contain his curiosity.

“I am the commander of this task force. We’re here to track Ruby Monday and make sure that whatever she may have uncovered doesn’t fall into criminal hands and causes no harm to Shinju and the Human Sphere.” He paused and observed Ilya’s expression for a moment, who felt skeptical but tried not to show it.

“You are a Sāchā, right?” He continued. “You know your way around the ruins?”

Ilya nodded.

“Would you like a job? We need someone local, as we follow the trail that Ruby left behind.” Ilya’s Geist picked up details of an employment offer: Off the record, but well paid, good medical benefits, Cube insurance.

“I don’t know… ” Ilya looked around, scanning for any sign of Kleio.

The man smiled. “The operative you met earlier is with us as well. You’ll meet her again soon enough.”

26. May 202624. June 2026

Fiction – Infinity N5 “A Sāchā’s Love”

Shinju is the latest planet discovered and settled by humanity, but they are not the first to live here. It is littered by long abandoned alien ruins that speak of a highly advanced civilization. Among the settlers a subculture of treasure hunters has sprung up, who venture into the ruins to look for xenotech artifacts. They call themselves Sāchā.

Ruby Monday is one of these Sāchā, perehaps the most famous ones. She has recently vanished, but mysterious messages from here have appeared, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to a highly valuable stash of xenotechnology. Various faction scramble to secure these artifacts to prevent them from doing irreversible damage – or use them for their own ends.

Ilya couldn’t believe his luck. First he had stumbled upon his first ever proper xenotech cache, and while nothing of the … things was in working condition, he was sure they would sell for a pretty penny and more importantly make him a proper Sāchā.

Second – and maybe this was a direct result of the first – he had received an invitation by none other than the famous Ruby Monday herself to a Kazureibu rave out in the desert. Lots of people would hear about it along the usual Maya channels of course, but to receive a personal invitation was special, real special!

Third – and this occupied Ilya’s full attention at the moment – a beautiful girl seemed to be falling for him hard. She had smiled at him among the dancers under the slowly darkening sky of Shinju, and when he sent her some of his personal tunes to overlay over the baseline, she had synced to them, done some improv variations and sent them right back.