Dauntless: Destiny Remade

Part 1: Failure--1.1 Simulation Failure

Prologue: A Message

Keith sat on a rock, hunched and hidden from the uniformed guards below. A white, domed building half-buried in red dirt squatted below him. He wanted what was in that building—the trouble was, he never remembered what that was. The only thing he knew for certain was that it was important to sneak past those guards and get inside.

Keith pressed lowered his binoculars and glimpsed his hairless, clawless hands. Here, his face was flat and he lacked the purple fur or slightly pronounced snout of the Galra. It felt so wrong, and yet, he felt like he'd always been this strange, hairless creature.

Slinging his leg over the seat of his vehicle, Keith prepared to get closer to his goal. Before he could see what lay inside the dome, Keith woke with a pounding headache. In the dark, he fumbled for the ice tabs he kept beside his bed. Popping open their package, he stuck them to his forehead, and the drugs seeped into his skin, loosening his muscles and easing the ache in his skull.

Only now did Keith flick on the light, which bathed his room in a lurid, purple glow. Sucking in his deep breath, Keith stared down at his black-tipped claws. He ran his hands over his arms with his black tiger-striped purple fur in place.

You've always been a Galra—not some hairless creature, he reprimanded himself, shaking his head.

Yet why did he keep having the dreams? And why did they feel so real?

Knowing he'd lost another precious night of rest, but unable to go back to sleep again, Keith rose and dressed for training.

Part 1: Failure

1: Simulation Failure

Keith dropped down the airshaft, using his blade to slow his descent. It grated into the metal, the shimmering luxcite sending sparks flying. Above him, a mechanical voice blared.

"INTRUDERS. SELF DESTRUCT PROTOCOL INITIATED. INTRUDERS. SELF DESTRUCT PROTOCOL INITIATED."

No countdown—not that it would help him escape.

"Regris! Do you have the coordinates?" Keith shouted through the comm device in his mask.

A grunt, and then Regris's bored tone answered. "You triggered the alarm, didn't you? Of course, you did..."

A weary sigh followed, but Keith bit back on his anger. Now, of all times, Keith didn't need a reminder that his stealth skills needed some work. He said, "I was trying to kill them. Sorry I didn't do it fast enough."

"I'll upload the information to the ship, but it'll take time."

There is no time, Keith thought, staring up at the top of the vent where he'd wedged himself. Bracing himself, he stuck his sword in his mouth. Already, footfalls pounded overhead, and Keith cursed himself—the reinforcements had arrived, and he was trapped like a wamp rat in a weasel's burrow. With a grunt, Keith wedged himself back up the shaft by jamming his back against one wall and using his legs to lever him up on the other.

Near the top, Keith transferred his sword from his mouth back to his hand. After a deep breath, he readied himself before launching from the air vent like a demon. He tore through the first four droid Galra guards before the other eight noticed him. When they started firing, he ducked behind a wall, drawing their fire after him. They stepped over the fallen droids, whose severed bodies sparked and twitched on the ground.

"Why are you still in that hallway?" Regris asked, irritation creeping into his usually indifferent tone. "Get on the ship."

Keith gritted his teeth, and his fangs dug into his gums. "I'm clearing you a path to escape," Keith said, turning the corner. He jumped and hacked through another guard's gun, darting away before it exploded and took another pair of guards with it.