(Unknown POV)
"Are you kidding me? You made us crash!"
"I made us crash?! You're the one who punched in the wrong coordinates! General Issak is going to have our heads for this! He'll throw us in prison! I can't go to prison! I'm too pure!"
I sat here, staring at my subordinates argue with one another as my precious ship smoked and sparked. We had been sent by our General to explore what we could, and extract samples. However, somehow, we ended up crashing onto an icy tundra that put even the coldest of Earth's glaciers to shame. I shivered, wrapping my windbreaker tighter around myself, not that it helped. It was so cold out here that I was sure I was going to catch hypothermia.
"Oh yea? Well you're the one who fixed the cooling unit wrong!"
"Of for the love of god, would you both shut up?" I muttered, making my subordinates Jake and Olivia look at me.
They both immediately straightened up and saluted, making me nearly roll my eyes. "Sorry sir." They apologized in unison. I shrugged past them, walking up to the holographic dashboard, which flashed angry red words. Yeah, yeah, I know my ship is broken. Damn shame, too. It cost me three hundred million cred to get it. And now look at it. Bent and broken on a planet of ice. My luck sucked.
I swiped at the panel, trying to see the probability of sending a beacon, only to be disappointed at the low percentage. "Crap. And there's no signal here, either. Maybe we could try...no, it more than likely wouldn't work. The weather alone would block the signal. Shooting a flare would just be dumb...hmm"
As I was muttering my thoughts, Jake and Olivia then hurried to my side, their eyes wide as they shook me to get my attention. Irritated, I glared at them, pausing at the intensity of their gazes. I frowned, looking between them. "What?"
"Um...there are...some weird beings standing outside."
"Humans, come out of your spacecraft with your hands up. Make sure you are unarmed. If you try to attack us, you will be killed on sight."
Looking between Jake and Olivia, we reluctantly left the ship, shielding our eyes from the paleness of the outdoors. The moonlight illuminated literally every part of the icy forest, making it look like something out of a movie. And when I looked at our...guests. I could only let out a single breath at their beauty. Most of them were tall...much taller than I, and I was six foot seven, and were as pale as the snow. Their outfits were light blue with white markings, and judging by their large weapons they were holding towards us...I would say they were very unfriendly.
"Put your weapons away. We are not savages."
A voice rang out in the forest, not deep, but definitely identifiable as a male's. The crowd did as they were told and stepped aside, revealing a man of such beauty, it literally stole my breath away. He wasn't as tall as his comrades, but he was definitely as tall as me with long waist length white hair and pale skin. His eyes were strange, something I had never seen myself, before. They were completely white. No separation between iris and sclera. He also wasn't wearing what the others were wearing. Instead he wore a very...revealing outfit. A one piece, I think. The top half was normal enough, I guess, with long sleeves and a sheer blue decorative piece that was held at the front with a shimmering blue gem. The bottom half...if you could even call it that, was like a skirt, the sides slit up to his hips, showing off his long pale legs.
"Eyes up here, buddy."
I blinked in surprise, my eyes zipping up to meet his. "Uh...um...where are we? Who are you? How do you know English?"
The man in front of me held up his hand, quite daintily and almost...royal like. I snapped my jaw closed and waited as he placed his hand back down to his side. "I could ask you the same thing. Here I am, ready to go to bed, when I am rudely interrupted by a spacecraft crashing onto my land." He crossed his arms over his chest, and I briefly wondered how the hell he wasn't cold, seeing as he was barely wearing any clothes. "Now, if you will follow me, I will answer your questions, if you answer mine. Besides, humans won't last long out here.You'll all freeze within the hour."
Jake, Olivia, and I shared looks before we hesitantly followed them, their...leader, I guess, walking beside us. I cleared my throat, scratching at my beard before I wrapped my arms around myself. "So ah...what planet are we on?"
The leader looked at me with a raised pale eyebrow, his lips full and tilted down in a pout. "Glacion. How did humans like you make it this far into the galaxy? Last I checked, you were still at the touch-phone stage."
I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "That was eons ago. And Glacion, huh? Kind of an ironic name for an ice planet. What the hell are you, anyway? Why aren't you cold? Is it a specie thing?"
"My, you creatures ask a lot of questions," The man sighed, rolling his eyes up to the stars as if he were asking god to smite me or something. He pursed his full lips and rubbed at his temples. "It's too late in the night for so many inquiries. Look, how about we make a deal? Leave the questions for tomorrow. I'll send some people to work on your ship and in the morning we will answer each other's questions."
I frowned, not wanting to stay on this cold planet with these strange...beings. Whatever they were. And to stay overnight? Was their nights the same length of time as ours? Plus, what about food? Water? Their planet was too cold to be able to grow food, and to have water. Then again...these beings were living on here just fine. Was human research wrong? Did planets not need water in order to sustain life? If so...how many other planets were crawling with creatures? Or...maybe not, I thought in irritation. This planet was made of ice. Ice was made from water. Of course there was water on this planet. Maybe the crash jostled my brain, too much.
Actually...staying here could be quite beneficial for us. We could expand our research and learn things we could have never imagined obtaining. Plus, admittedly, these creatures were something out of a fantasy film. Of course, they closely resembled humans and didn't have overly weird body parts or tails or something else that resembled things out of nightmares. The only weird thing about them were their strange coloring and their...lack of ears?
I raised my eyebrow as some of the leader's hair billowed back, giving me a clear sight of a hole that was in the place of where a human ear would go. Interesting. I looked back to where we were walking only to gape at the building that lay in front of us. It was made from glass and white marble, with large gothic-like roofs and glowing orbs that illuminated the castle.
"Holy crap this is beautiful!" Olivia exclaimed behind me, Jake making a small noise of agreement.
The leader scoffed beside me, as if he were offended. "Of course it's beautiful! It's my castle!"
Ok, so he was the leader...king...whatever. I found it interesting that a king would go out with his people to investigate beings he didn't know to be hostile or not. That put him in severe danger. What would happen if their king was killed? Did the guy have a kid to take his place if he dies? Then again, he didn't seem like the type to settle down. Maybe it was just me...or maybe it was the vibe he was giving off. Either way, I doubted he had a little mini-him roaming around.
The inside of the castle was just as extravagant as the outside, the floors made with marble and the walls made with some kind of substance I never seen before. It was almost...iridescent, the colors changing as we walked along the long corridor, the colors ranging from pale blue, to a pastel pink. It reminded me of a pearl.
The king turned and the door in front of him opened automatically, allowing us to see the room beyond. I could only guess that this was where we were going to bunker down for the night, judging by the large...bed-looking things. At least, I thought they were beds. They were floating off of the ground and were a sleek pod-like style, the outer bit of it being made from the same materials as the walls.
"This is the room you will be staying in tonight. I do hope that it is comfortable enough for your tastes. I will ask one of my servants to warm the room, assuming you three want to sleep in warmth."
When we all nodded, he continued. "Alright. I will put word out for the handymen to fix your ship in the morning. As of right now, let us rest."
"Wait," I said, just as he turned to walk away. He shifted and looked at me, raising a pale eyebrow. I took this as my go ahead, and continued speaking. "What's your name?"
The king blinked and a smile fell onto his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I am King Asurah of Glacion. And you?"
I smirked, leaning against the frame of my door, gesturing inside where Olivia and Jack were too busy admiring the structure of the room. "Those two are lieutenants Olivia Jefferson and Jackson Harris." I then moved away from the wall, holding out my hand. "And I'm Captain Joseph Briggs of the Special Intelligence Fleet."
A/N: The pic above is a quick sketch of Joseph I did! Anywho, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Tell me what you think of the story so far! I'd love to hear your thoughts!