Project Prometheus Ch. 74 - Teaser (Patreon)

The colony was quiet—just the low hum of machines and the occasional chirp of avian wildlife nesting in the nearby trees. Dirt and gravel crunched beneath her shoes as she set into her rhythm, her breath steady and measured, the early sunlight catching the glint of distant Sentries.They were seven feet tall, broad-shouldered bipedal constructs with long-range scanners and an entire array of weaponry built into their frames. Most of the colonists and the Frontiers personnel found them intimidating, but not her. The moment the Ulvexi threat had been confirmed, they’d been deployed into full perimeter watch cycles, fencing the colony in a protective grid of overlapping sensor fields and deadly weapons.And today, Ashaki trusted them to do their job.She fell into her pace easily, each lap of the colony perimeter melting into the next. Past the main barracks, past the mess hall dome, through the shadow of the storage silos, her breath fogging lightly in the cool air. The rhythm of her feet against the terrain and the soft pull of early gravity at her legs, it all added up to something meditative.By the time she hit her twentieth lap, sweat was beading at her brow, her lungs burning just enough to make her feel alive. She slowed as she rounded the far corner of the compound, near the Darkstrider’s looming presence, ready to wind down… and then she saw her.Korsa.The Khontaran physician—no, warrior—was in the clearing beside the ship. She was dressed in nothing but black training pants and a sleeveless cropped wrap that left her massive crimson torso bare. Her blue-white hair was braided into a tight knot, and her four muscular arms moved in perfect synchrony as she executed a slow, complex kata across the open ground.Ashaki froze mid-step, the breath caught in her throat.Korsa’s movements were liquid, but there was no softness in them. Every transition was sharp, precise, and full of restrained force. Her legs carved through the space like pistons, weight shifting with immaculate control. Her four arms flowed from defensive gestures to strikes and back again, the symmetry of it all nearly hypnotic.Ashaki didn’t mean to stare—but gods, how could she not? The woman was eight feet of focused, lethal beauty. Each muscle flexed in elegant lines, her back like carved stone, with her abdomen rippling with each twist of her core. But there was nothing brutish in her movement. It was a dance of pure discipline.Just when Ashaki thought the display had reached its end, Korsa turned, bent smoothly, and lifted something long and heavy from the dirt.A blade, no… a sword that was by and large, massive. Two meters of tempered alloy, etched along the center of the blade with Khontaran script, and Korsa wielded it as if it weighed nothing. She stepped through another form, blade carving arcs in the morning air with impossible grace, her motions neither rushed nor showy. It was clear: this was not for anyone else. This was her ritual… her center.Then, without pause, Korsa twisted the hilt, and the sword split into two blades now, one in each upper hand. Ashaki’s eyes widened upon seeing this, and her mouth fell open. Korsa didn’t stop—she flowed immediately into dual forms. Her lower set of arms were now open and defensive, with her upper arms working in deadly tandem as the twin blades moved with blistering speed.Ashaki’s heart was hammering, her run completely forgotten.Just as she thought she’d seen it all, Korsa shifted again, and with two precise snaps, the twin blades split again, becoming four shorter swords. Her entire body moved like a storm of red and steel, each arm commanding a weapon, the choreography impossibly intricate. She spun, ducked, rose, and slashed through invisible opponents, not once hesitating.It was beautiful and damn well terrifying.Ashaki swallowed hard, watching as the Khontaran finished the final sequence and returned to stillness. Her chest was heaving, skin glistening under the pale light, and her eyes remained closed in quiet focus. Ashaki let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding as the display ended.‘Note to self: never, ever try poaching a man from a woman like Korsa,’ she thought, both aroused and thoroughly warned. She didn’t doubt for a second what Korsa was capable of, especially if provoked and if it involved Alex. Which, thankfully, she wasn’t dumb enough to try. But, gods above, it was a hell of a thing to witness.