shortly thereafter by Varnog and Thanh.
Once again, I silently envied Doom’s appearance. Like all his Xian brothers, the genetically engineered Warrior possessed golden scales that contrasted beautifully with the black shirt of the Vanguard. Their creator, Dr. Xi, had given them all large black eyes devoid of sclera, wavy black hair, and breathtaking features. While I couldn’t complain about my own level of attractiveness, I would have preferred similar scales to his instead of my black chitin ones, and my multifaceted bug eyes inherited from my sire. My brothers and I weren’t Xian Warriors but Dragons, as we’d labeled ourselves due to our large percentage of Gomenzi Dragon DNA.
Thanh sat down next to my Soulcatcher, which didn’t surprise me: our women always hung out together. Varnog, the Scelk leader, went to stand by Doom at the head of the table. That’s when I noticed the presence of Stran, a Creckel and Doom’s lifelong battle companion. About the size of a Tibetan Mastiff, Stran’s body generally resembled that of a pangolin—although with slightly longer legs—and with the face of a dragon.
“Thank you everyone for gathering so quickly,” Doom said once everyone had taken a seat. “As you can guess, I've rounded you up for a mission. You’ll all remember that when we defeated the General, Varnog was able to get us the information on all of his secret bases still functioning or abandoned. The Coalition has been diligently dispatching units to clean up over there. But this one is special.”
Doom turned towards Varnog for him to speak.
“The base is located on the Moon of Melibos,” Varnog said.
We all slightly recoiled upon hearing those words. We had already been there and cleaned the place up during a prior mission.
“I know what you're thinking,” the Scelk leader said with his usual taunting smile. “However, there was a second base on the other side of that moon that we'd been unaware of. What makes it so special, you ask? It was dedicated to experimenting on Creckels.”
We all gasped in almost perfect sync, our heads jerking towards Stran. The Creckel’s dark blue lizard eyes sparked with an intensity I hadn't seen in a long time. I could only imagine how he was feeling right now. His species had been nearly decimated when the Kryptids had invaded his homeworld in an attempt to subdue his people and turn them into war weapons for General Khutu’s cause. His mate and offspring had perished in the attack. Ever since, he had dedicated his life to bringing down the Kryptid empire. Now that the war had ended, Stran had planned on going back home at long last and maybe finding himself a new mate to help repopulate his planet, Dreija.
“So, obviously, if anyone is going to see what remains of that base, it will be us with our loyal friend,” Doom said.
We all nodded and cast sympathetic looks towards Stran. He was a formidable war machine. Together with Doom, the pair was nearly unkillable. A few other Creckels had temporarily joined the war effort in the early days. Every single one but Stran had returned home over the thirty-five years it had lasted. What better parting gift to our teammate than to find more of his people alive?
But what if we only find corpses?
It was a dark reality that we needed to account for. We didn't need to warn Stran of that possibility. He had seen enough to have realistic expectations.
“I would therefore like for us to leave first thing in the morning,” Doom said.
“Just be aware that there is no telling what you will find in that base,” Varnog warned in a cautious tone. “From what I've gathered from Khutu’s memories, the base was abandoned more than twenty years ago. The scientists were still inside, including the modified Creckels. There may or may not be any survivors. But if there are, after all this time, they may be hostile or even feral.”
“Why did he leave everyone inside? And why didn't they leave?” I asked.
“They couldn't leave because he had them sealed inside,” Varnog said in a grim tone. “It was common practice for him to simply discard those who ceased being of any use to him. He considered the Creckels a failed experiment. From what little I read from him, they were not malleable enough for his purpose.”
Stran growled and pushed out his leathery chest with pride. He projected an image of Creckels standing on a pile of chains. Understanding his meaning took no effort this time. Creckels