The Descendent is a scout/fighter ship that detaches from the back of the Ascension when in need of some extra firepower and/or an additional target or set of eyes in a battle or scouting mission, but is usually primarily used when landing on a planet is necessary. Although teleportation is technically possible, Zander always saw it to be ethically questionable. He often cited arguments of whether or not it proves the existence of a soul as a physical object capable of being manipulated or disproves the existence of a soul as no known element has ever been found fitting the traditional criteria of a "soul". However, people CAN be teleported successfully at this point in time within this universe, Zander prefers a much less controversial method for transportation. Therefore, the Descendent is their primary means of reaching the surface of a planet safely while simultaneously avoiding arguing amongst themselves & others about the ethical debates of teleportation altogether. Zander even went so far as to dismantle their teleportation device, but he DOES somewhat regret it, now, at least. They ran into an asteroid field on their way there that seemed to pop-up out of nowhere, and being able to instantly disintegrate the asteroids and beam their particles out into space behind them proved to be quite a useful trick at the time. In light of that, Zander has always regretted the dismantling & wished he could get the device functioning again.
On their way to the Descendent, a beautiful young woman appearing to be in her mid-twenties stepped out in front of them, and demanded to know why she hadn't been asked to go with them. "Paul! As you know that my positronic brain is remotely connected with this ship, you must also be aware that because of this I am aware that you are trying to go explore another new planet without me. Why?" Well, this is obviously not a young woman at all. Anne here is an android. Not just any android, but PAUL's android whom is connected to the ship for which she was initially just the automated computer system until her programming was duplicated & relocated into an android structure. Anne is the product of this procedure and she stays in constant contact with the ship's systems while still attempting to keep tabs on Paul, whom had reprogrammed her as his . . . "companion". "Anne, sweetie…" Paul said as he began to explain to her the reason for attempting to keep her out of the loop. He continued in the tone of voice most parents use when they're trying to convince a child that what the parent has decided is best and that the child already knows that and wants to listen . . . even though they probably don't. "…We've talked about this before. I'm the man. I make the decisions. I go down to the planets to investigate & you stay here to take care of the ship. Yes? We agreed on this long ago. Remember?" "But I thought the whole reason for me having this body was so that I could be WITH you . . .like THEY are . . ." said Anne as she pointed to Zander & Lee, ". . . not just work FOR you." "No. Anne. This is not the same situation and you know it." Zander was feeling rather impatient towards the entire situation. So he attempted to solve it himself. "Let me try, Paul." "Whatever, man. Good luck." Paul answered as he began.
"Anne . . ."
"Yes, Mr. Corvus?"
"As you will be well aware of from checking the navigations systems, we are NOT in the Milky Way Galaxy anymore. We are in the Andromeda Galaxy."
"Affirmative."
"Now, we have no idea who or what we may run into out here."
"I see."
"If the technology used to create your present type of existence where to be taken by the wrong people, they may be able to duplicate it."
"Of course. Reverse engineering."
"Quite. Now this means that you cannot join us on the surface of the planet because the wrong people might see you, and attempt to take you from us so they can duplicate your technology, and then use it for malicious purposes."
"Oh, my."
"Therefore, you must stay hidden from them. Besides, if ALL of us go down there, then who will be here taking care of the ship?"
"No one?"
"That is correct. So now you understand why you can't go with us. Right?"
"Okay . . ." Anne responded with a dejected tone in her beautifully synthesized voice. ". . . but I want to go down with Paul eventually." Paul displayed a huge smile as he began to reply. "Well, maybe when we get back, you & I can . . ." "Paul!" Zander exclaimed. "Can't you wait until you're alone with her for that kind of remark? Lee might get jealous." Lee scowled at Zander as he spawned his own remark in response to this jocular attack. "Ha . . . ha. At least I MEET women. Brilliant scientists with artistic ability that treat women like the most important object of their affection are much more desirable than renegade starship commanders who would rather stare at stars & chart them than actually go out and DO something." "DAYUM!" exclaimed Paul at the sound of this remark. "He got you GREAT, Cappy! Don't mess with this kid. He always knows just which buttons to press. I speak from experience, of course." Paul looked over at Lee, and whispered under his breath, "Little demon boy." "Okay." Zander said with the concession of defeat in his voice. "Let's just get onto the Descendent and get on with this. There's a Human down there that needs rescuing." "Negative." Responded Anne. Zander, confused by this response, simply asked "What? What do you mean...'negative.'" "Sensor logs now show that the life form is now only being chased by 10 different sources of charged particle weapon fire. It would appear the human has things under control" "That's insane." Zander remarked. "There's no way one human could do all of that with no weapons & no help!" Zander's demeanor quickly changed from confused excitement to sheer commandment as he ordered immediate action. "We need to find out what's really going on down there. Lee. Paul. Get in this ship and let's move!" They both nodded at Zander as he popped the door open, and then followed him as he headed into the Descendent.
Meanwhile, on the surface of the planet, the humanoid life form was running through thick, brown woods as 10 very seriously armored alien soldiers were chasing after it. The alien soldiers were about 6' tall, wearing generic armor which only seriously covered the usual major places such as joints like the knees and the elbows. The rest of their attire is black with red trims around each opening, such as the wrists, ankles, and neckline. Their heads were garbed in sleek, black helmets decorated with a red circle which encased an emblem of a pair of black angel wings in the center of the helmets' foreheads. The humanoid life form was dressed in what appeared to be a primitive garb made from random animal skins that had been cobbled together to form shorts, and a top. This being was also wearing the head of what appeared to be some sort of tiger-like creature over their head. I'm certain that not much other detail could be seen of this being by a bystander if observed at this very moment because even the Ascension's sensors would've stated that it was running too fast, and jumping at an extremely nimble speed from one spot to the next as it made its way over some otherwise dangerous rocky groups scattered throughout the brown wooded area.
As the alien soldiers approached these rocky groups, 8 of them halted immediately as two others ran right into a trap that was presumably set by the prey in this situation. Part of the rocky area crumbled underneath them immediately upon arrival and one of them made it past as it just barely tripped one foot into the hole, and climbed back out as its companion fell to what was presumably its death below. The surviving one was suddenly met by a barrage of arrows from either side upon reaching a trip wire on the other side of the pit. He fell forward with 12 arrows, 3 in each side, bleeding black blood all over the rocky area. One of the remaining 8 soldiers remarked in their native language to which the other 7 began laughing, then they began running around the rocky area, and onward towards their target.
Back on the Descendent, the Ascension crew was preparing to make their final descent as Anne contacted them. "Paul, the Human life form has apparently disposed of two more enemy life signs."
"Was there any sign of particle-weapons fire?'
"Negative. No known particle-weapons were detected at all."
Paul & Lee became increasingly confused as Zander verbally assessed the situation with them. "So . . . we have an unarmed human life form on that planet that's dropping enemies, armed with charged-particle weapons, left-and-right? I'm not sure whom we should save anymore." "Should we proceed?" asked Paul. "Of course. We need answers here and that Human is the best one to give them to us." Zander responded. "I just hope we can get our hands on him." Replied Paul, as he boosted the speed a bit, post-haste. "I just hope THIS human doesn't get killed in the process." Lee retorted. pointing to himself.
Back on the surface, the prey attempted to elude its predators yet again. This time, the remaining 8 soldiers were right on its trail again. However, as the prey ran in between a few trees that were very close to each other, it pulled out a small device from its clothing, and pressed a button on the device, quickly hiding the device back inside the covering on its torso. One of the soldiers saw this and attempted to stop its companions, but once again two more slipped by and continued running after the humanoid life form. As soon as they reached the small opening of trees, 10 charged-particle weapons mounted to them fired simultaneously, immediately forming a web of energy that lasted only 1 second. This web resulted in every one of their limbs being instantly separated from their bodies as the pieces fell forward from the momentum of their running. The remaining 6, still halted in their tracks, stopped chattering just long enough for one more of them to make another remark in their native language that 4 of the others found hilarious. If you had been present, you would have once again heard grunting noises coming from them that resembled laughter. The 6th one however, and the one that spotted the activation of this elaborate trap, didn't find this prey funny anymore as it raised its own charged-particle weapon, red in color, and shot in a single quick burst, shooting the one that made the remark. The others stopped laughing immediately as the one obviously in charge at this point started grumbling what appeared to be new orders at them, since they immediately headed off in another new direction.
Meanwhile, the Descendent finally reached the surface of the planet as Paul landed the ship near where they believed the humanoid life form may have been spotted next. As the exit hatch opened down into a ramp, Zander took the lead once more. "Paul, keep your eyes open for . . . ANYTHING." "Always!" Paul responded. "Lee, get ready to perform some First Aid in case the Human life form is injured." "I'll do whatever I can, Zander." Lee responded. "I'm gonna take a look around, and see if I can…" as Zander turned around, he stopped speaking in mid-sentence as he saw the humanoid life form run out from a wooded clearing, approximately 15 yards from their position. Zander attempted to greet the being peacefully. "We are here to hel…" The being immediately pulled out what appeared to be a highly technologically advanced bow and struck a bolt of energy directly at the ground between Zander's legs, cutting his sentence short in a quite abrupt manner. "RUN!" exclaimed Lee as the three of them took cover behind the exit hatch/ramp.
The shooting continued as they attempted to figure out what was going on. "What just happened?" Zander asked rhetorically. "I think the human just tried to kill us." Lee replied. Paul started pulling out knives from straps around his legs underneath his pant legs and muttering to himself. "'We've gotta save that human', he says. 'That human needs our help', he says." Paul quickly turned his eyes towards Zander as he finally pulled out a charged-particle pistol he affectionately called a 'Heater', from the straps on his legs, powered it up, and finished his statements right before taking random shots at the humanoid life form. "That HUMAN just tried to KILL us, I said!" Zander peeked around the corner just in time to see the 5 remaining alien soldiers come out of a clearing opposite of the human life form. Zander inquired, quite loudly, "What is going on here?!" Just then, the Human AND the aliens started firing at them. Zander ducked back behind the ramp. "What's going on out there, Cappy?!" asked Paul.
"Now the people you said were chasing the Human are firing at us too!"
"Don't yell at ME…" Paul began. "…I just repeated what LEE told ME! HE was the one reading the sensors!" Lee's eyes grew larger at the site of the 5 beings firing at them as he peeked around the corner. "I can't explain it either, Zander! They were firing at the Human, and now they're all firing at us!" Zander peeked around the corner again while Paul took more random shots at the alien soldiers with his 'heater'. Zander looked out just in time to notice that the alien soldiers had now focused their attention on the humanoid life form, and the humanoid life form had responded likewise. They were at a standoff. Zander formulated another plan as he ducked back behind the ramp. "Paul…" "Yeah?" "Stop firing." Paul stopped, but immediately protested. "Cappy, are you crazy?!" "They're not shooting at US anymore. Stop. I need to try to sneak around behind the Human and take them . . . quickly. I need you to wait here and only fire IF they spot me. Understand?" "Fine." Paul responded in a disappointed tone of voice.
Zander attempted to sneak around the back of the Human as the shooting stopped & the Human life form now seemed to be conversing with the alien soldiers in their own native language. Paul kept an eye on Zander & the others while speaking with Lee. "If that's how that Human talks, how are we gonna get any answers?" Lee was sitting huddled up in a fetal position with his own 'heater' as he answered Paul, simply with "Universal Translator?" "Will that work right out here? I mean, it's a whole 'nuther galaxy!" Lee quietly began inching over towards Paul's position. "It SHOULD. It's programmed with a lot of languages that show similarities to each other in OUR galaxy already. There's bound to be some similarities between those and the languages here." "Will it work at this distance?" Paul stressed. "It's . . . on the Ascension." Lee said disappointingly. "Great." Paul noted, disappointingly as he muttered to himself, "I hope you haven't walked us into our last trap, Cappy."
At that very moment, the Human life form struck down one of the alien soldiers with an energy-bolt from its bow as the others began firing back and seeking cover. One of them shot the animal head helmet right off of the Human's head which resulted in the Human falling back unconscious, and directly into Zander's arms. As he caught the human, he noticed something quite unexpected. "You're . . . a woman?" He stated in confusion. The alien soldiers began firing at Zander now as they now noticed him aiding the Human away from the firing.
Paul jumped out from behind the ramp and screamed at them in an attempt to distract them. "Hey, metal heads!" One of the alien soldiers tossed what appeared to be some sort of grenade at Paul, and he jumped back behind the ramp. "What's going on, now?" Lee asked in a slightly apathetic tone, obviously somewhat afraid to know. "Just cover your ears." Paul responded as the grenade hit the ground at the front of the ramp, and smoke began swirling around the ramp to Lee &Paul's positions. "AHHHHH! MY EYES! IT'S BURNING MY EYES!" Lee screamed as Paul took a deep breath, forcefully placed his left hand on Lee's chest and said with a huge grin, "Ah! Smells just like home!" Paul then jumped out into the smoke, yelling at the alien soldiers. "Shooting at one of my friends & making the other one cry? NOW you've pissed me off." As Paul walked out of the smoke toward the alien soldiers, now with two different pistols, he turned dials on the side of each pistol to raise their power output to maximum and exclaimed "Say 'hello' to my badass friends!" as he began dropping them one-by-one. He only fatally nailed 2 of them good enough to keep them down as the initial shots ignited some of the smoke which was then carried with the initial blasts, making them even more potent, but the remaining two of them took cover behind some trees and continued returning fire as Zander proceeded in his efforts to carry the alleged Human woman back to the Descendent with him. Lee jumped around the ramp and ran into the ship screaming "Ha! The Human DIDN'T die this time!" Zander ran up the ramp as fast as he could with his feet heavy from the extra weight as Paul back-stepped into the ship behind him, still firing in rapid succession at our would be destroyers.
The ramp rose up as Zander gently set the Human woman down on her back, on the floor. "It's a chick?!" Paul exclaimed in utter disbelief &confusion. "Apparently." Zander replied. "Wow. That's a tough lady! I wonder if she's single." Paul said as he initiated liftoff and began piloting the Descendent back to the Ascension. "Before we leave . . ." Paul began. ". . . Enjoy some orbital bombardment, you morons!" He yelled through a P.A. system that carried the statement outside of the ship as he fired the particle-weapons on the Descendent, setting all of the trees around the alien soldiers on fire immediately, and one of the remaining soldiers along with them. As Paul was laughing manically, the last soldier shot himself in the head with his own energy weapon. At the site of this, Paul stopped laughing and just said "Wow. You don't have to be so 'emo' about it."