Keystone Trilogy Book II- Rift World

10

Elias was, for the first time in his life, deeply, truly afraid. The thought of facing the Intelligence was mind blowing, if it was even real. And what about the mysterious Arrex Keystone? Elias had no idea what he was getting himself into. He was trying to kill a consciousness with a gun. What? How was that even possible? As far as Elias knew, the bullet would just go right through. Wait, had Glael even given him any bullets? Elias dug through his pack yet found none. "Glael?" He said. "You didn't give me any bullets." Glael was too focused to respond.
Elias turned to look out the window. He saw a massive flying starship loom on the horizon. "That is Command." Glael said. Elias was dumbstruck. Even among the Union Sky Corps he had never seen such a large ship. It had to be a mile long at least, and was about half as tall. It was heavily armed, with some decks visible to the sky. Elias could see soldiers drilling on the rear platform, using a variety of weapons. What were they practicing for? Surely there was nothing for them to battle? The ship touched down in a docking bay similar to the one they had just left. Elias and Glael disembarked and began to walk towards a likely hall. They were stopped by a life size, menacing half robot guard.

He had somewhat long, black hair spiked up over his forehead, and where its right eye should have been was a mechanical device that took up most of its face, with a red orb acting as an eye in the center. His one remaining eye was a startling blue, but it was filled with hatred. The lower half of his face was covered by a red bandanna of sorts, tied at the back of his neck. He was wearing armor, making it near impossible to tell which parts were human and which were not. He had a large spike protruding from the upper part of each arm, as well as the knees and elbows. At his belt he carried a small gun, and in his hand was a staff, with wicked looking curved blades at each end. When he stood it on end it was about the same height as him, and about the same level of...evil.

"Hello," it said. "We've been expecting you."