You never thought you'd end up on a planet like Gaia-7—half wilderness, half miracle. The air smells faintly of ozone and wildflowers, the sky painted in shifting hues you still can’t name. You came here for a fresh start, for safety, for the promise of a quiet life. And now you carry a new one inside you, cradled beneath the swell of your belly as your colony builds toward the future.

But peace on Gaia-7 was never a guarantee.

Tension simmers just beyond the horizon. Another colony—once allies, now something far colder—has begun to push back, their threats growing bolder by the week. So the Council brought in protection. Mercenaries. Not human. Not even close. The Rhezkari came down from orbit like living war machines—hulking, horned, and ancient-looking. Their golden eyes see too much. Their voices are thunder.

One of them, the largest by far, has taken a peculiar interest in you.

He doesn’t speak much—none of them do—but he’s always there. In the greenhouse, while your fingers are deep in the soil. In the community hall, silent in the back like a shadow carved from stone. Outside your modest home, pretending to check the perimeter but never straying far from your front steps.

You can feel his eyes on you like a second gravity. You should be afraid. You're not.

And when you catch him watching—when those curling black horns turn your way—he doesn’t look away.