She had been dispatched to the site off planet. The holy relic had been unearthed, the exile's tomb had been uncovered in the old ruins and his exile was long ago in her people's history. Before he left the planet though he stole a few relics before disappearing. As it were he found this planet and had been revered by the natives.

One such historian had worked out all the viable clues and learned of the religion of the creatures. It was a lifetime of work often met with ridicule along the way. No one would have thought he was on to something or actually figured out the clues. Then actually finding the temple after the jungle long since reclaimed the ruins.

On the plus he was able to recover all the relics that had been missing … all but one. In a communication due to his eagerness at his discovery he had sent a transmission to the home world that had been intercepted. Someone else had been monitoring his progress and arrived before the relics were shipped back.

Scale blue aliens with gills and probably lungs as well arrived on the scene. The assistant managed to get away, the historian was killed and one of the relics, the heart stone, was taken. Fortunately each relic was packaged separately and the historian had tracking devices installed into each container to prevent theft or loosing something in the shuffle learning from experience with all the clutter, artifacts and so forth he had managed to collect.

She was given a brief overview, her first step in matters was getting to the planet and the assistant to get the tracking device. She and another knight had been assigned to this though the other was to secure the scene and protect the assistant in the event there was more to the tomb her mission was to recover the heart stone.

The heart stone, a holy forgotten relic thought to be lost ages ago afther its theft. Many caltures have claimed to be its original owners yet none could support any truth to that claim. Even the proud ospoden people claim divine right to the heart stone as the crown jewel of god, even naming a order afther its magnificentents, The Order of the Immortal Heart wanted nothing more then to recover the pricless artifact. Yet unlike their fellow ospodens, the order of the heart belived even they didnt hold true claim either, the stone didnt belong to one race, or religion, or even a single person, instead the stone was a artifact that belong to the residents of tne galaxie its self and represented unity and peace ammong worlds in the eyes of the knights of the order who sought its return... It was why their were so into the idea of assisting the historian tasked with its recovery.

"I appologize for the interuption but we should be reaching the planet shortly ma'am." Holy Knight Diva Krimry said professionaly twords the historian she was sworn to protect on this recovery mission. Diva speaking loud enough to be heard through the heavy steel door, standing outside the historians sleeping quarters as she vigilently stude guard in the nerrow ship corridor paitently. Diva adored in her shiny blacken knightly armor, gauntets, and greaves over her similurly colored leotard that tightly hugged her curvy body under her heavy plates. Clasping both hands behind her back Diva waited.

It had been one of those last minute chances from the order itself. Seeing that there were no ships in the vicinity and they had to dispatch a vessel from the home world. They still had to reach and safe guard the assistant and get that tracking device controller but since another knight was going with her to protect the assistant and the site of the tomb a last minute amendment had been added in sending another historian and archaeologist to continue such work.

The ospodan historian was a younger man that just had a passion for all this stuff. His office had been cluttered with all manners of trinkets he picked up in gift shops from this world or that. With the advance in tech though he did not need to take much with him.

“Let's get started -” he was eager despite the hour, his words trailing off once he saw her as if unsuspecting her beauty as the door slid opened. It was clear that he liked what he saw, he even blushed and looked away leading her to the ship. Clearly he had to be one of those sorts that was awkward in social situations or too self absorbed with his work to get involved with women, he wasn't bad looking, just a few years older than her she guessed.

The second knight was already waiting for them. She was the pilot having a great many hours in flight. She greeted the two the ship small but comfortable. It was designed for four individuals and even half a dozen prisoners. Used to patrol and defend against pirates it would be unlikely that the ship ever needed the space to port so many prisoners but being small and cheap several could be deployed against a single threat.

A few hours later they had arrived on the planet. There landing one had been more or less a field near the original vessel that was still down on planet but their pilot did not land.

“Check the sensors, make sure we are alone then attempt to raise the assistant on communications.”

The woman was busy with concentrating on flight and flying about the area jut in case there were any surprises left for them.

Outside of the fact that the planet was teeming with life there was nothing unusual about the planet. Gravity was just a little stronger but shouldn't be too noticeable and it was a jungle so the life signs were probably animals. There were a lot of them down there but not in large clusters that might have indicated a civilization.

She was able to raise the assistant without any fuse.

“I can see you buzzing around up there. I'll head back to the ship since giving you directions through the jungle to the tomb would be a bit difficult.”

Diva wouldnt lie, she was supirised that the historian was a male, she was expecting a completly diffrent person then who she was faced with as the door slid open. Confusion writen accrost her face Diva looked into his eyes as he looked into hers. Quickly noticing the flustard look on his face, however Diva was unphased and she simply smiled in hopes to settle his nerves twords her. She knew these types, awkward, quick to judge, shes met them befor, it was a matter of warming up to them.

"My apologize, I didnt mean to disturb you.. sir?" Diva said calmly and perfessionaly, a hint of confusion at the end of her sentence befor she step aside, out of the door way so the historian could lead on.

Diva already met their pilot so formalitys between them had already been done, as fornow the trio had only needed to rest and wait for them to touch down. Diva in the mean time polished her shield with a soft silk cloth she pulled from a pouch strapped around her thigh.

Hours later the trio finilly touched down not to far from the other historians landing site befor hailing to the other historian with the short range transmitter. It didnt take much time or trouble to raise the other one with the communicator.

"Ok.. we were asked to wait for now... They are coming to meet us I belive." Diva relayed to the others/other.

She had been acknowledged with a nod and the ship landed near the other in the field. As a precaution the engines were still kept on and the archaeologist's assistant arrived. He repeated to them what they had been briefed on already, that the archaeologist was killed by these blue aliens though they received more of a description of the aliens.

They had scales and seemed to be humanoid fish though they did not appear to have any gills. They were hairless and mute, no demands were made when they simply killed the archaeologist and took the one item, obviously knowing what they were after, simply looking inside the box and taking it. When he was noticed he was shot at and managed to get away.

Recalling that there were six of them that he saw the engines of his ship had been damaged standing him here. It was crude work though as if the fish people just shot it a few times with their blasters when passing it by though he had figured that their ship had to be elsewhere as they could have just blown it up when taking off.

As far as he could tell they did not speak or make sound and he had been able to send off a communication from the ship. He got the homing device that kept track of all the beacons in the various boxes and had to show them how to use it to hone in on a particular box.

Spare parts for the engine had already been loaded up and the ship would be hers to use to track down the stolen artifact once they unloaded the parts. Her pilot could repair the engines and would do before providing security her and bringing back the body, which was already stored in the freezer of the damaged vessel to preserve it better.

That would leave her with the ship and the tracer. She was left alone though but got several hits on the device, the plethora of readings came from the boxes on the damaged ship, apparently the assistant was quite busy getting the artifacts and body stored away before their arrival.

The box she was searching for brought her to a nearby world. The planet was mostly water with several islands. There were no satellites so no space aged life though her sensors picked up that the atmosphere was breathable but the air thin and equivalent to being on a mountain so heavy exertion wasn't likely to be possible for long stretches of time but limited to more brief burst between periods of rest.

The tracer brought her to an island on the planet. There was a jungle down there but on occasion she could see various stone work like pyramids poking out of the jungle. Sensors picked up large clusters of life forms here and there possibly settlements though where she was lead there were few such clusters and none within 10 klicks or so.

Odd, the tracer brought her to a lake that was close to a pyramid. It was as if the box was under water or in the pyramid it seemed that something was blocking her sensors from penetrating the structures and she could use them to penetrate the water, they had not been designed for it though with some finagling she may ave been able to use them in a crude fashion.

There were all sorts of sensors, most were for operating in deep space or picking up general readings though some state of the art ships were fitted with more sophisticated sensors. Sadly hers had not been one of them. There were no landing ones unless she made her own with her blasters or tried a tricky landing near the lake itself. There were no dangers detected but there could be in the structures or beneath the surface of the lake for all she knew.

Things were moving quiet fast once Diva met up with the other archeologist out side his came, she wasnt sure who or how many she was meeting anymore or what happen accually happened down there. Murder, theft, hijacking, Diva belived she got the giest of the situation as she was sure someone or somthing was dead and the heart stone was stolen.... agin and by what, she wasnt sure as the poor assistant she spoke to was so rattled he could hardly keep his story straight and sensable. However Diva belived she understand one thing, the heart stone wasnt on this world anymore? A beacon leading to a neigboring blue ball, a planet of tropical water and scattered islands as Diva guessed she woud head out of this strange adventure in a allready confusing one.

Diva moved out on her own, leaving her fellow knight to guard the others in her absences as she travled to the next world over, fallowing the beacon down to the surface and to a island ammong the countless scattered fragmints around the planet as she made a tight vertical landing on the jungle lined beach of a tropical island befor setting out to search for the stolen artifact afther she gathered her shield from the underbelly of her ospoden issued lancer medium class star fighter. Diva heading off into the jungle as she fallowed her nav to the beacon, soon discovering the possible location, a lake and what appeared to be a ancient structure. Not being the best swimmer Diva choose to seek out the ruins first.

The beacon lead her to the lake though getting an exact fix on the box was tough for the same reasons that her sensors failed to get anything from the lake or the interior of the structure. It was in the area though. The short trek here had he note how thin the air was. She was taking deeper breaths as if she under went a light jog.

On foot now she recognized some wild life, lizards of various sizes and colors some were bright but most were green or brown able to hide from the wide variety of tropical birds. She could get close to the lizards but the birds seemed mindful of her and kept their distance. It was almost as if the lizards did not see her as a threat unless she got too close. Maybe they could not see so well.

The way to the pyramid showed that someone had come this way. After a few minutes she found a dirt road that someone had to be maintaining that took her straight to the structure. It had looked as if the prints of booted individuals trod upon it and while the number had been hard to determine they only went to the pyramid.

The path was free of vegetation but the jungle closed in on the stepped pyramid. She would be able to dip off the path easily enough if she used it at all but following it while remaining in the jungle was possible as well.

At the base of the steps though was one scaly bald blue creature. A fish man as the assistant described to her. He was wearing a black jump suit with no logo and had a blaster rifle scanning the vicinity. Able to dip into the jungle before she was seen would see that there was just the one at least from this side. Every once in a while he looked back to ward the top of the structure as if waiting for someone or ensuring that someone hadn't been approaching him by scaling another side of the pyramid then coming down upon him.

That could have indicated that he was the lone sentry though if so tactically it made better sense if he were at the top of the structure so either he wasn't too worried about it or not much of a warrior to begin with. Maybe he was suppose to be securing the path, it was hard to say. He did seem alert though his attention had to cover a great deal of distance so his focus on anything particular wasn't intense.

Diva choose to head to the ruins instead of explore the lake or any kind of underwater area, with how thin the air was Diva already had trouble breathing and she didnt wish to over tax her self more then she has already as she casually jogged to the path she found leading up to the ruins deeper into the jungle befor discovering a wider dirt road further ahead. It was a strange discovery however one that made sense, it was well kept and maintained and it ment that likly the villins were up ahead held up inside the ruins. Diva considered the idea of a ambush and choose to march through the jungle to stay out of site.

Once Diva reached the outskirts of tge ruins she patiently scouted the area for threats befor she spotted one. Up ahead guarding the entry to the ruins Diva found one guard standing alone guarding the entrance.... a easy target.

Seeing the opening Diva took a deep breath and took it as she quickly darted out of jungle brush twords the lonly guard. Diva rushing the gate to the ruin as she gripped the rim of her shield and threw it at the poor guard on duty... aimming to end his duty today befor moving into the ruins.

The sentry had been look up the steps of the pyramid behind him when she made her move. The sudden burst of sound drawing his attention toward her to first identify the threat. He reacted quickly despite his novice mistake of guarding the base of the pyramid rather then the top. It seemed that he received an order from a commander that wasn't much for strategy or didn't care. In any case trouble had not been expected.

His eyes went wide at the threat but he had not uttered a sound throwing himself out of the path of the shield. In response he fired but unable to aim or get off more then the single shot before she was atop him. His shot went wide right though he managed to get to a knee just prior to her closing the distance.

He was breathing heavily at the brief exertion though. It seemed that the thinner air was harder for him to adapt too then her. She saw no gills but if he were an aquatic creature he had to absorb air somehow, perhaps through the skin itself … thinner air meant a harder time drawing it in.

She could have been wrong and none of that really mattered. He sprang up as he launched a shoulder at her chest dropping the rifle as it was useless in close. Maybe he thought she was a frailer human, maybe it did not matter at all to him what species she was as she was simply “the enemy” and had to be dealt with at close quarters.

Diva hurled her heavy shield at the unsuspecting guard on duty but by some luck he managed to spot it mid flight and react accordingly as he jumped and rolled out of its path only to have the shield lodge its self into the wall behind him with a heavy crash that shattered stone, however Diva didnt relie on her shield alone. Quickly Diva fallowed up on that first attack, dashing twords the gate behind her tossed shield only secionds afther, hardly giving the enemy soldier time to fire let alone aim his weapon as rifle bolts zipped past her harmlessly.

Taking advantage of his kneeling possision Diva quickly rushed appon him. The soldiers first mistake was discarding his gun and engaging in melee where Diva clearly held the advantage as she easly side stepped his sholder charge where Diva countered and swung low, unrelently kneeing him in his stomic, if it conected and he would hunch over in pain she would fallow up and end it with a left hook to the soldiers soon to be shattered jaw.

She was stronger then a human he found. She discovered that he was solidly built, while her knee had an effect it wasn't as great as it would have been. The scales protected him a little from blunt effects though not enough. Her blow didn't shatter bone due to scales but it was certainly enough to stun him enough for her to follow up and dispatch him.

It seemed that the gauntlets she wore nearly off set the benefit of the scales. But she had been able to render him unconscious and recover her shield. No one came either at the sound of the single blaster shot.

Gazing up the stepped pyramid no one had appeared up there. Catching her breath given the thin atmosphere, it wasn't long before she would climb the steps of the pyramid. At the top there was a stone slab that had been slid away revealing a stone staircase that descended into the heart of the structure. The light spilled in from outside giving her some visibility for a bit as there didn't seem to be any interior lighting.

Further inside she would find that she had enough light to see by for a bit. When it was beginning to grow too dark she could see the glow from a light source up ahead.

There were smaller corridors that branched off of this main one. They were small, wide enough to move down but not wide enough to effectively dodge so they were avoided thus far. She did not have a map of this place but knew that the thieves were up ahead.

She had a few options open to her. Either take a risk and see about looping about with the narrow passages. Sneaking ahead to have a peek at the opposition or even concealing herself here in the darkness and attempting to ambush the thieves as they headed back.

Diva easily went toe to toe with the novice mercenary as the two traded swings in melee combat, however he made one fatale mistake duringbtheir short brawl and that was underestimating her. The knight was no human and many made that mistake and throwing him self into her gave Diva the edge she needed to finishe him and win as she dispatched him with her final blow. Standing over the unconcious body of her enemy Diva couldnt help but feel the creature she faced was tougher then he looked, looking at her heavy gauntleted hand briefly befor back to the thief rather bazarly, she would have to swing more truely in the future she considered as she simply turned afther gathering her shield and proceeded up the steep steps and into the dark ruins with out hesitation to carry out her mission and return the holy heartstone to its rightful owners.

The ruins let little light in as Diva was quickly finding her self surronded in darkness, luckly for her she was prepaired with a illuminating device on her gauntlet allowing her to see once it got to dark as she fallowed along te nerrow path deeper into the ruins.

It didnt take long befor Diva was able to sense the pressence of evil directly ahead in the next chamber. Diva choosing the least cowerdly of her choices of assult as she simply rose her heavy shield between her self and the entry way as Diva got ready for the worst not knowing truely what was ahead

Moving ahead the corridor turned showing a short hall leading into a larger room where the light was coming from. Inside the room near the door was another one of the blue scaled fish people. He had his back turned to her, a blaster rifle in hand with a glow rod in the slot where one would fix a bayonet in a primitive rifle. Such an attachment had some use in modern contests when one was out of power for the weapon. Clips held a lot of shots and were light weight so running out of ammo was rare it did happen in intense warfare. A modern vibro knife could be attached to many models.

He was looking into the room towards the back at the figures there. Next to him was another blue scaled creature with a similar rifle minus the glow rod. He too had been looking towards the others apparently neither had been concerned about someone coming up upon them or had a greater interest to what was going one.

They were maybe ten feet into the room. Another fifty revealed three more figures. One blue on with a holstered blaster pistol and glow rod had been leaning down over a dais. Another blue one seemed more alert armed with a blaster rifle while a green one was looking down at the dais reading something she guessed. The green one was unarmed.

Five of them in total. Four blue, one green. The odds seemed to be against her. There were six in total counting the one that was unconscious outside. Only one seemed to be attentive though and he had not noticed her yet, the other pair at her end blocked her off for the most part and as it was she could barely see the three others between the two at this end.

Odds were the guards heard her coming if they were by any means good at their jobs as Diva quickly moved along inside the ruins, hussling through the long corridor with one mission in mind, gather the lost artifact and return it safly from theses hethens as her heavy greeves clinked agiest the stone floor as she ran ahead. No fear and by no means was she stealthy either as she came into the heavily guarded room fully cocked and ready to assualt. Her shield raised at her from as she first charged in to block potential fire from any thing ahead as she went straight for the two unprepaired blue skinned guards.

"STAND ASIDE THIEFS!! Diva shouted in pios anger, showing her heroic zeal as she effectly rammed into one of the unprepaired guards with her titanic strength behind that shield of hers, sending the poor man sailing accrost the chamber, either unconcious or severly injured now befor Diva quickly reacted to the seciond who was right beside him.

"I SMITE YOU!! Diva shouted faithfuly as she punched the mag jets in her shield and used the mommentum from her charge on the first guard to quickly and effectivly swing her shield around in back swinging arch at the seciond guard who had less then momments to respond afther she destroyed his partner. Diva swinging the sharpened edge of her shield into the guards mid section either cutting him horribly or straight up lobbing him in two....

As she rushed forward making enough sound the two guards in the back turned towards her. One turning in time to have her shield smash into his chest sending him sailing. With the momentum behind her movements she heard a satisfying crack this time indicating that more then a few ribs broke.

The other she caught with her shield as his mind was still processing what was going on. The black clothing could absorb a little energy from energy burst but did little against more primitive weapons and impacts. His body dropped. She was able to catch a blast on her shield from the alert one in the back. As attentive as he was he did not have a shot with the other two in the way and now that she had gotten rid of her cover he acted but not with enough time for her to get her shield back in position.

The other blue one dropped the light on whatever they were peering at and aimed as his mind caught up with what was going on. And the green one? It stood straight up, smiled at her but did not seem fussed about the death of two comrades.

The pair of blue ones began to move away from one another, aiming at her leaving her with a straight path towards the green one. She could see now that she was holding some sort of of palm sized circular stone in one hand. Suddenly she felt something shove her arm back and the shield into her chest lifting her off her feet and sending her back into the hall.

She was just getting up as the green one was boldly approaching while the blue ones stayed where they were. In her head she heard a voice, raspy but feminine. You came for this? She made a show of displaying the circular stone, she could see that there were all sorts of engravings on it.

With her other hand she was beckoning her forward as if to indicate for her to bring it on, unafraid of the knight though the blue ones seemed to be keeping her at a respectful distance if they did not read this situation and had some sort of unspoken protocol.