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Description
The Crucible World: a place of honor, a place of death,a place of triumph, of loss, of pain, of death. The Crucible World is an artificial planet created by the Nihlans, a race of alien beings that had come to dominate the galaxy through politics, technological advancement, and sheer military power, to serve as the galaxy's battlefield to settle matters that had devolved beyond the possibility of diplomatic solutions. It is there that I hoped to find my salvation.

I groaned as I slowly clawed my way back to consciousness, feeling something hard and uncomfortable digging into my back. I opened my eyes and bit back a curse as the harsh light of the ceiling lights stabbed into my eyes. I slowly swung my legs over the side of the institutional wall bench and sat up, elbows on my knees, face in hands, and began to gently massage my eyes. I had a pounding headache from somewhere, but at the moment, I couldn't remember where I got it from. As I sat there recovering from whatever happened to me the previous night, I came to the conclusion that I was in some really deep shit.

For one thing, as I was waking up, various aches and pains began screaming at me from all over my body, as if I had taken a massive beating. Bracing myself, I opened my eyes and looked around. My worst fears were confirmed as I saw that the room I was in had no windows, and that the door was locked, with laser bars cross hatching the door and the control pad for the door. There was also a camera in each corner of the room. I sighed and stood up to stretch my bruised and battered body, discovering that most of my torso and back was covered with fresh, clean bandages. Yikes. If I was out cold while they were bandaging up my wounds, then I must have been hurt bad. The fact that they used bandages and not a compress meant that at least some of the wounds were made with a sharp object, like a knife or a broken bottle. That did not bode well considering my surroundings. Soon after I finished stretching and sat back down on the bench, the door unlocked and a female Nihlan doctor, tall, willowy, and slender, with pale blue skin that shed a soft, barely perceptible glow, and two male heavily armed and armored Nihlan police officers, suited up from head to toe with visor helmets and battle plate, came in. Although the room was quite spacious for a jail cell, the police officers made me feel a bit crowded. The Nihlan doctor walked up to me and looked me up and down, and then peering into my eyes, before speaking.

"Well. It looks like you'll be fine. That head trauma had me worried for a bit, but your eyes are fine, and it seems that you will be making a full recovery. However, to be on the safe side, I will be taking you back to my lab for a full work up, which wasn't possible while you were unconscious. If there's anything wrong, I'll be able to identify it and patch you up. Might as well check on the bandages while I'm at it."

I slowly got to my feet, every inch of my battered body protesting the movement. I turned to face the Nihlan doctor and the two silently vigilant guards.

"Thank you doctor, I appreciate you help. Um… I can't seem to remember what happened to me, would you mind telling me why I feel like I was in a bar fight gone horribly wrong?"
The doctor looked at me before answering.

"Well, that's because you were. Bar surveillance cameras recorded the entire distasteful incident. You were talking to the bar tender, when seven Lorrens approached you from behind. They talked to you, and a fight broke out when their leader disliked what you told him. Apparently, he ordered his friends to severely injure or possibly kill you, because the two that attacked you took out knives. The camera that recorded everything was too far away to pick up any audio, so we do not know what was said. That's all I know about this. Come on, let's get you to the infirmary and fully patched up. Going toe to toe with seven hulking lizard men brutes isn't exactly the healthiest, or sanest, of choices."

She proceeded to put her shoulder under mine and help me limp to the infirmary, while the two police officers silently followed, hands on their stun batons. I looked at the officers, and then back at the doctor.

"Thanks for your help doctor. I really appreciate it. I have another question for you, why are those officers back there acting like I'm extremely dangerous, even though I've been beaten to a pulp?"

The doctor wouldn't look me in the eyes as she answered.

"You killed two of the Lorrens outright, and took down the other five before collapsing from the injuries you sustained during the fight. Two of the Lorrens you fought died on their way to the hospital, and another died before the doctors could save him. The leader of the group is in Intensive Care Unit, but stable. The last of the Lorrens who attacked is with him, but in unstable condition."

Wow. That was a shock. What's worse was that I couldn't remember any of it. When I told the doctor this, she just shook her head and muttered about tricky head traumas and how head injuries were still immensely dangerous, even with all the medicine and technology available. We finally got to the infirmary, and the kind doctor put me through the full spectrum of physical and cognitive tests, to make sure that I was relatively fine, if horrifically bruised and battered. The two officers stayed with me the whole time, watching for the slightest hint of violence on my part. After the tests were over, the doctor gave me a few medicinal drinks, and applied another layer of medi-gel to the long but shallow knife wounds across my chest, before wrapping them up in new bandages. Then, she put her shoulder under mine once again, and took me to the Chief's office. The Chief was waiting for me behind his desk, with four more heavily armed and armored police officers behind him, and two more next to the door. As the doctor helped me in, the two officers who were tailing me took up positions next to the window. The Chief was watching me with shrew eyes and looked me over before speaking.

"Doctor Miira, thank you for bringing him here. Is he sound of body and mind?"

Doctor Miira replied "Yes, Chief Alvaan. His injuries are extensive, and he cannot remember the incident, but I expect him to make a full recovery. He is sound of body and mind."

"Good. Thank you Doctor Miira. If there is nothing else, I must speak to this man in private."

The doctor did not have anything to add, other than that I was fully cooperative and unresisting, before leaving the office. When the door slid closed, the Chief turned to me.

"Nathaniel Griffin, after reviewing your dossier, I am surprised to find you here under these circumstances. You are a highly valued member of the Special Weapons and Tactics branch of your police force back on Terra. You have been charged with five counts of manslaughter and seven counts of aggravated assault. The recording of the incident clearly shows you killing two of your attackers outright with their own knives, and violently incapacitating the rest. You have committed grievous crimes, and you must pay your debt to society. The fact that you were acting entirely in self defense, and your decorated history in your Terran police force, has led me to take action in your favor. I cleared this with the higher authorities, and filed all the paperwork, so this is entirely legal. Nathaniel Griffin, I am giving you a choice. You can serve the sixty years of your sentence doing hard labor in the prison mines of Dunmar, or you can take the Path of Atonement, and perform one task of penance that has been given to you by the Nihlan Emperor himself."

Damn it all. I couldn't afford to spend sixty years in a prison mine. I was on "vacation" looking for my missing niece. Her mother, my sister, had contacted me about her two months ago, and I reported it to my squad leader, and he reported it to the rest of the force. After a month of fruitless searching, we could find nothing. Then, a lead was found, but it was not one that the force could legally and legitimately follow, but one that I, as an individual, could. The rest of my force understood, and the Chief cleared me for one year of "paid vacation" with the understanding that I would return to Terra and resume my duties in a year, whether or not I found her. Sixty years in a prison mine was not an option for me.

"What will I have to do for this penance, this Path of Atonement?"

"You will join the team that the Emperor is sponsoring in this year's Crucible Tournament. In order to expunge this dreadful incident from your history, you will have to make sure that the team makes it to the final three rounds. After that, you may opt to drop from the Tournament and this incident will be expunged from the records. If you choose to stay and keep fighting, your records will be expunged, and you will have the chance to win the Grand Prize, a single wish granted by the Nihlan Emperor himself. If you fail however, your sentence will be commuted into community service, scaled in duration to how far you got in the Tournament."

That was a raw deal. The Hellfire Crucible was the galaxy's proving ground. The toughest warriors from all over would be there, trying to win the Grand Prize, and I would have to ensure that this team I was getting assigned to would beat out 99% of them. Only the top 1% ever made it to the Placer Rounds. Weighing the dangers I would face, the suffering I would have to endure, and all of the things that could go horrifically wrong, and of all the time that would be wasted if I came up short, it still only took me ten seconds to make my decision.

"I'll do it."

"Good. Your belongings will be shipped to your new location within an hour, but you must leave immediately. Doctor Miira is going with you, to make sure that you make it to Kittaara in one piece, and to tend any injuries you may sustain during training. She is also the combat medic of your team."

A few minutes later, Doctor Miira came back in the office, and helped me outside. I was on my way to Kittaara within the hour. The trip took only a day, and it was uneventful, but informative. On my way, Doctor Miira filled me in on the full situation, and gave me the team roster, along with a small bio on each of its members. The information was quite interesting. Apparently, the planet of Kittaara had been recently hit by an extremely well organized, extremely well funded, and well coordinated fleet of pirates, brigands, raiders, and mercenaries. They had somehow managed to land ground forces undetected on the planet, infiltrate the ground defense network hub, and take it down without raising alarm. Then, the fleet proceeded to assault the key infrastructure points of every major city on the planet, taking out communications towers, transportation structures, and generally lay waste to most of the planet. It was later discovered that the pirates had a lot of inside information, and agents on the inside at key points. Kittaara was devastated, and it would take decades to recover without outside aid. A petition was put before the High Council of Races, and a resolution was passed to aid the Kittaarans in their time of need. However, the Nihlan Emperor took interest in how easily the operation was pulled off, calling the attacking fleet a major threat to galactic peace. He called upon the Council to authorize the immediate capture of the attacking fleet, before it could flee into the Barren Systems, a set of systems that were governed by a network of independent Empires that had a mutual defense pact and a grudge against the Council. The Barren Systems were notorious for sheltering bandits, pirates, and outlaws from Council justice. They were also notorious for being warmongers, taking any slight provocation as an excuse to declare war on the Council. The Council took this into account when weighing their decision, and decided not to openly pursue the pirate fleet. The manpower and firepower needed to locate and apprehend such dangerous criminals would require the use of one of the Council's Armadas, and the tactical deployment of an Armada that close to the border of the Barren Systems would surely ignite a war. The Nihlan Emperor was furious at the outcome, and decided to take matters into his own hands. He began to pull strings behind the scenes, calling in political favors owed to him, and exploiting his massive political influence to amass information on the pirate fleet. He found out the fleet's location, its chain of command, its patterns of behavior, and absolutely every tiny detail about it. He also found out that it was being covertly funded by the Barren Systems. He could not bring this information to the Council openly, so he began to formulate a plan with the Kittaaran government, and together they came up with a plan. The Kittaaran government would send its best squad to participate in the Crucible Tournament, where with subtle aid from the Emperor, they would fight to the top and claim their wishes on behalf of the Kittaaran Government. They needed one more person though, and apparently, I was the one. The Kittaarans would use their wishes to "force" the Emperor to hunt down the pirate fleet and bring them to justice, while I would be able to use my wish as I saw fit, if I managed to get that far.

I was also filled in on the rules of the Tournament, and just how intricate it had become since it was founded. I was also informed of the limitations of the Grand Prize. You only get one shot at the wish, and the Emperor always has the option of denying your wish if it would cause large scale harm to the galaxy. Also, the wording of the wish was important. If the wish was ambiguous, or vague, the Emperor was allowed to fulfill it in any way he saw fit. For example, if you wished for immortality, and did not specify how, the Emperor was well within his rights to cryogenically freeze you and lock you away for eternity. I thought to myself that I wouldn't have that problem. My wish would be for the Emperor to find my niece and bring her home, safe and sound. As the ship docked at a private docking station, Doctor Miira turned to me.

"They are expecting another team member, but they aren't really expecting you."

"Not expecting a human right?" was my reply.

"Not really. This was a team of battle hardened Kittaaran females, until the Emperor sent me to be their combat medic, and you to be a tactical asset."

"Which reminds me, what exactly do you do, Doctor Miira?"

"I am one of the Emperor's personal medical experts. He assigned me to this team for the time being."

"That's rather impressive."

"Thank you. Your record is quite impressive as well."
I started thinking about the implications of the Nihlan Emperor sending one of his personally retained medical experts to be the combat medic for the team. The thoughts that ran through my head did not make me like the situation any better.

"The Emperor is trying to stack the Tournament in our favor as much as he can without breaking any rules, isn't he?"

Doctor Miira looked at me, and didn't answer. The doors slid open and she hurried through, avoiding answering my question. I walked quickly after her, my wounds having healed on the way. As I caught up to her, she turned, looked me in the eyes, and whispered a yes. Then, we stepped onto an elevator, and took it down to the main floor of the docking station. Waiting for us were the rest of my team, five stellar examples of the cat-people of Kittaara. Lean strength and primal grace rippled though their bodies, giving an impression of power and dexterity, even when they were standing still. Also, the fact that they were clad in skin-tight, full-body battle suits with all manner of weaponry and ammunition strapped to them helped their aura of deadly grace quite a bit. Despite myself, I was impressed by their gear kit and the familiarity with which they handled it.

"That's the rest of our team, I assume, Doctor Miira."

"Yes, it is. It was kind of them to meet us here."

Doctor Miira and I stepped out of the elevator and greeted the team. I introduced myself to them, with full formality, as Nathaniel Griffin of the Terran Elite SWAT Alpha Team. They introduced themselves as Tathia Bloodbeast, Gaus Coldheart, Merabis Highwind, Kurra Steelshadow, and Atanyali Angelfang. Kurra Steelshadow was the Alpha Female and the team's leader, Gaus Coldheart and Merabis Highwind were the team's markswomen/snipers, Tathia Bloodbeast was the squad's demolitions expert, and Atanyali Angelfang was the squad's heavy weapons expert. After a while, I noticed something strange. The Kittaaran women were sniffing the air around me, as if scenting some unusual fragrance, one that they found pleasing.

"Hey, ladies, I know I'm new and everything, but… what gives?

Kurra took a second to snap out of it, and gave me a shrewd look before replying.

"You smell good, in a very unusual way. We will figure this out later. Now, we have to get back to HQ and begin our training. We have a lot of work to do to integrate you two into our team. Come on, we are low on time. The Tournament is only a few months away. We need to get ready."

Kurra led the team to a private shuttle, and we were transported to the headquarters, where we all took extensive medical exams, including blood tests, and then were sent to begin immediate, grueling, training. Daily exercises in team based combat, daily weapons training, explosives training, survival training, hand-to-hand combat training, and agility training. The training lasted exactly one month and two weeks, before we were shipped off to face destiny.

Apparently, Destiny was taking a break, because the most infamous Tournament in the multi-verse started with a formally attired banquet on the Nihlan home planet of Nihlus. When I asked Kurra answered that we were exempted from the qualifying rounds that most of the other contestants had to go through. When I asked her why, she told me it was because we were a sponsored team. Non-sponsored contestants had to qualify to be in the Tournament.

The banquet was held in a great hall, opulently furnished and massive bordering on gargantuan, with a large, raised dais at the head of the hall, where the Nihlan Emperor and his Consort were seated. Instead of a banquet table, there were hundreds of Nihlan serving men and women gliding gracefully through the hall, carrying platters of delicious foods from all across the galaxy. There were platters from the Kittaaran home planet, from the Terran home planet, local dishes that were as exotic to me as the Nihlans themselves, and dishes from almost every corner of the galaxy. I felt guilty, thinking about all those contestants going through hell while I was feasting at a banquet hosted by the most powerful being in the entire galaxy. I thought about my poor missing niece and the horrors that she must be suffering through, and I felt my resolve harden.

After a few hours, the Nihlan Emperor stood and addressed the crowd, with a hidden microphone pumping his amplified voice throughout the hall.
"Brave warriors, I salute you. In 24 hours, you will enter the galaxy's most grueling and dangerous Tournament. Today is your last chance to honorably drop from the lists of contestants. Tomorrow, you will have to fight your way through a veritable hell. You will be hot-dropped into the galaxy's most hostile planet. This year's Tournament is not about killing, or dominating, or proving who is stronger. This year's Tournament is about survival. The Crucible World has been rebuilt from core to surface, and it has only one goal now, and that is to kill you. If you set foot on that planet, it will do its best to kill you in a most painful fashion. You will experience fear, hunger, thirst, and pain as you have never experienced them before. Ask yourselves now if competing in this
Tournament is worth several deaths worth of suffering, for death is all but assured. Now, for those willing to suffer as no one in the galaxy has suffered before, step forward and take your place as Contestants of the Crucible Tournament."

As the rest of the hall stood frozen, petrified by their fear, I stepped forward and met the Nihlan Emperor's gaze.

"I stand ready."

Twenty four hours later, my team and I dropped feet-first into a hell that could not be described, a place where life was rare and death commonplace and the dead outnumbered the living by far. Seconds after we landed, the planet came alive in a way that no one expected. Hover drones darkened the skies and attacked anyone caught out in the open while crawler drones scoured the land. What's worse is that the very ground constantly shifted and formed hazardous terrain, constantly shifting from smooth planes of sheet metal to jagged razor hills and towering mountains. Sometimes, the planet didn't even wait for you to leave to shift. My team sustained brutal injuries, but Doctor Miira unrivaled skill saved our lives time and time again, turning near fatal wounds into vicious scars. The other sponsored teams were not so fortunate. Their medics were skilled experts, but they could not handle the threats that the Crucible world posed. After a nightmarish month on that planet, my team was declared the winners. After all, we were the only living things left.

At the Award Ceremony, the Nihlan Emperor met us in person to grant our wishes. He shook our hands, one by one, and asked each of us our wishes, nodding at the Kittaaran's wishes for their planet to be aided, and for vengeance to be exacted on the criminals responsible for the assault on Kittaara. My wish was a lot simpler.

"I wish to have my niece returned to me, alive and well."

The Nihlan Emperor put his hand on my shoulder, his grip conveying warm and confidence, and looked me in the eye.

"It shall be done."

Description
The Crucible World: a place of honor, a place of death,a place of triumph, of loss, of pain, of death. The Crucible World is an artificial planet created by the Nihlans, a race of alien beings that had come to dominate the galaxy through politics, technological advancement, and sheer military power, to serve as the galaxy's battlefield to settle matters that had devolved beyond the possibility of diplomatic solutions. It is there that I hoped to find my salvation.

I groaned as I slowly clawed my way back to consciousness, feeling something hard and uncomfortable digging into my back. I opened my eyes and bit back a curse as the harsh light of the ceiling lights stabbed into my eyes. I slowly swung my legs over the side of the institutional wall bench and sat up, elbows on my knees, face in hands, and began to gently massage my eyes. I had a pounding headache from somewhere, but at the moment, I couldn't remember where I got it from. As I sat there recovering from whatever happened to me the previous night, I came to the conclusion that I was in some really deep shit.

For one thing, as I was waking up, various aches and pains began screaming at me from all over my body, as if I had taken a massive beating. Bracing myself, I opened my eyes and looked around. My worst fears were confirmed as I saw that the room I was in had no windows, and that the door was locked, with laser bars cross hatching the door and the control pad for the door. There was also a camera in each corner of the room. I sighed and stood up to stretch my bruised and battered body, discovering that most of my torso and back was covered with fresh, clean bandages. Yikes. If I was out cold while they were bandaging up my wounds, then I must have been hurt bad. The fact that they used bandages and not a compress meant that at least some of the wounds were made with a sharp object, like a knife or a broken bottle. That did not bode well considering my surroundings. Soon after I finished stretching and sat back down on the bench, the door unlocked and a female Nihlan doctor, tall, willowy, and slender, with pale blue skin that shed a soft, barely perceptible glow, and two male heavily armed and armored Nihlan police officers, suited up from head to toe with visor helmets and battle plate, came in. Although the room was quite spacious for a jail cell, the police officers made me feel a bit crowded. The Nihlan doctor walked up to me and looked me up and down, and then peering into my eyes, before speaking.

"Well. It looks like you'll be fine. That head trauma had me worried for a bit, but your eyes are fine, and it seems that you will be making a full recovery. However, to be on the safe side, I will be taking you back to my lab for a full work up, which wasn't possible while you were unconscious. If there's anything wrong, I'll be able to identify it and patch you up. Might as well check on the bandages while I'm at it."

I slowly got to my feet, every inch of my battered body protesting the movement. I turned to face the Nihlan doctor and the two silently vigilant guards.

"Thank you doctor, I appreciate you help. Um… I can't seem to remember what happened to me, would you mind telling me why I feel like I was in a bar fight gone horribly wrong?"
The doctor looked at me before answering.

"Well, that's because you were. Bar surveillance cameras recorded the entire distasteful incident. You were talking to the bar tender, when seven Lorrens approached you from behind. They talked to you, and a fight broke out when their leader disliked what you told him. Apparently, he ordered his friends to severely injure or possibly kill you, because the two that attacked you took out knives. The camera that recorded everything was too far away to pick up any audio, so we do not know what was said. That's all I know about this. Come on, let's get you to the infirmary and fully patched up. Going toe to toe with seven hulking lizard men brutes isn't exactly the healthiest, or sanest, of choices."

She proceeded to put her shoulder under mine and help me limp to the infirmary, while the two police officers silently followed, hands on their stun batons. I looked at the officers, and then back at the doctor.

"Thanks for your help doctor. I really appreciate it. I have another question for you, why are those officers back there acting like I'm extremely dangerous, even though I've been beaten to a pulp?"

The doctor wouldn't look me in the eyes as she answered.

"You killed two of the Lorrens outright, and took down the other five before collapsing from the injuries you sustained during the fight. Two of the Lorrens you fought died on their way to the hospital, and another died before the doctors could save him. The leader of the group is in Intensive Care Unit, but stable. The last of the Lorrens who attacked is with him, but in unstable condition."

Wow. That was a shock. What's worse was that I couldn't remember any of it. When I told the doctor this, she just shook her head and muttered about tricky head traumas and how head injuries were still immensely dangerous, even with all the medicine and technology available. We finally got to the infirmary, and the kind doctor put me through the full spectrum of physical and cognitive tests, to make sure that I was relatively fine, if horrifically bruised and battered. The two officers stayed with me the whole time, watching for the slightest hint of violence on my part. After the tests were over, the doctor gave me a few medicinal drinks, and applied another layer of medi-gel to the long but shallow knife wounds across my chest, before wrapping them up in new bandages. Then, she put her shoulder under mine once again, and took me to the Chief's office. The Chief was waiting for me behind his desk, with four more heavily armed and armored police officers behind him, and two more next to the door. As the doctor helped me in, the two officers who were tailing me took up positions next to the window. The Chief was watching me with shrew eyes and looked me over before speaking.

"Doctor Miira, thank you for bringing him here. Is he sound of body and mind?"

Doctor Miira replied "Yes, Chief Alvaan. His injuries are extensive, and he cannot remember the incident, but I expect him to make a full recovery. He is sound of body and mind."

"Good. Thank you Doctor Miira. If there is nothing else, I must speak to this man in private."

The doctor did not have anything to add, other than that I was fully cooperative and unresisting, before leaving the office. When the door slid closed, the Chief turned to me.

"Nathaniel Griffin, after reviewing your dossier, I am surprised to find you here under these circumstances. You are a highly valued member of the Special Weapons and Tactics branch of your police force back on Terra. You have been charged with five counts of manslaughter and seven counts of aggravated assault. The recording of the incident clearly shows you killing two of your attackers outright with their own knives, and violently incapacitating the rest. You have committed grievous crimes, and you must pay your debt to society. The fact that you were acting entirely in self defense, and your decorated history in your Terran police force, has led me to take action in your favor. I cleared this with the higher authorities, and filed all the paperwork, so this is entirely legal. Nathaniel Griffin, I am giving you a choice. You can serve the sixty years of your sentence doing hard labor in the prison mines of Dunmar, or you can take the Path of Atonement, and perform one task of penance that has been given to you by the Nihlan Emperor himself."

Damn it all. I couldn't afford to spend sixty years in a prison mine. I was on "vacation" looking for my missing niece. Her mother, my sister, had contacted me about her two months ago, and I reported it to my squad leader, and he reported it to the rest of the force. After a month of fruitless searching, we could find nothing. Then, a lead was found, but it was not one that the force could legally and legitimately follow, but one that I, as an individual, could. The rest of my force understood, and the Chief cleared me for one year of "paid vacation" with the understanding that I would return to Terra and resume my duties in a year, whether or not I found her. Sixty years in a prison mine was not an option for me.

"What will I have to do for this penance, this Path of Atonement?"

"You will join the team that the Emperor is sponsoring in this year's Crucible Tournament. In order to expunge this dreadful incident from your history, you will have to make sure that the team makes it to the final three rounds. After that, you may opt to drop from the Tournament and this incident will be expunged from the records. If you choose to stay and keep fighting, your records will be expunged, and you will have the chance to win the Grand Prize, a single wish granted by the Nihlan Emperor himself. If you fail however, your sentence will be commuted into community service, scaled in duration to how far you got in the Tournament."

That was a raw deal. The Hellfire Crucible was the galaxy's proving ground. The toughest warriors from all over would be there, trying to win the Grand Prize, and I would have to ensure that this team I was getting assigned to would beat out 99% of them. Only the top 1% ever made it to the Placer Rounds. Weighing the dangers I would face, the suffering I would have to endure, and all of the things that could go horrifically wrong, and of all the time that would be wasted if I came up short, it still only took me ten seconds to make my decision.

"I'll do it."

"Good. Your belongings will be shipped to your new location within an hour, but you must leave immediately. Doctor Miira is going with you, to make sure that you make it to Kittaara in one piece, and to tend any injuries you may sustain during training. She is also the combat medic of your team."

A few minutes later, Doctor Miira came back in the office, and helped me outside. I was on my way to Kittaara within the hour. The trip took only a day, and it was uneventful, but informative. On my way, Doctor Miira filled me in on the full situation, and gave me the team roster, along with a small bio on each of its members. The information was quite interesting. Apparently, the planet of Kittaara had been recently hit by an extremely well organized, extremely well funded, and well coordinated fleet of pirates, brigands, raiders, and mercenaries. They had somehow managed to land ground forces undetected on the planet, infiltrate the ground defense network hub, and take it down without raising alarm. Then, the fleet proceeded to assault the key infrastructure points of every major city on the planet, taking out communications towers, transportation structures, and generally lay waste to most of the planet. It was later discovered that the pirates had a lot of inside information, and agents on the inside at key points. Kittaara was devastated, and it would take decades to recover without outside aid. A petition was put before the High Council of Races, and a resolution was passed to aid the Kittaarans in their time of need. However, the Nihlan Emperor took interest in how easily the operation was pulled off, calling the attacking fleet a major threat to galactic peace. He called upon the Council to authorize the immediate capture of the attacking fleet, before it could flee into the Barren Systems, a set of systems that were governed by a network of independent Empires that had a mutual defense pact and a grudge against the Council. The Barren Systems were notorious for sheltering bandits, pirates, and outlaws from Council justice. They were also notorious for being warmongers, taking any slight provocation as an excuse to declare war on the Council. The Council took this into account when weighing their decision, and decided not to openly pursue the pirate fleet. The manpower and firepower needed to locate and apprehend such dangerous criminals would require the use of one of the Council's Armadas, and the tactical deployment of an Armada that close to the border of the Barren Systems would surely ignite a war. The Nihlan Emperor was furious at the outcome, and decided to take matters into his own hands. He began to pull strings behind the scenes, calling in political favors owed to him, and exploiting his massive political influence to amass information on the pirate fleet. He found out the fleet's location, its chain of command, its patterns of behavior, and absolutely every tiny detail about it. He also found out that it was being covertly funded by the Barren Systems. He could not bring this information to the Council openly, so he began to formulate a plan with the Kittaaran government, and together they came up with a plan. The Kittaaran government would send its best squad to participate in the Crucible Tournament, where with subtle aid from the Emperor, they would fight to the top and claim their wishes on behalf of the Kittaaran Government. They needed one more person though, and apparently, I was the one. The Kittaarans would use their wishes to "force" the Emperor to hunt down the pirate fleet and bring them to justice, while I would be able to use my wish as I saw fit, if I managed to get that far.

I was also filled in on the rules of the Tournament, and just how intricate it had become since it was founded. I was also informed of the limitations of the Grand Prize. You only get one shot at the wish, and the Emperor always has the option of denying your wish if it would cause large scale harm to the galaxy. Also, the wording of the wish was important. If the wish was ambiguous, or vague, the Emperor was allowed to fulfill it in any way he saw fit. For example, if you wished for immortality, and did not specify how, the Emperor was well within his rights to cryogenically freeze you and lock you away for eternity. I thought to myself that I wouldn't have that problem. My wish would be for the Emperor to find my niece and bring her home, safe and sound. As the ship docked at a private docking station, Doctor Miira turned to me.

"They are expecting another team member, but they aren't really expecting you."

"Not expecting a human right?" was my reply.

"Not really. This was a team of battle hardened Kittaaran females, until the Emperor sent me to be their combat medic, and you to be a tactical asset."

"Which reminds me, what exactly do you do, Doctor Miira?"

"I am one of the Emperor's personal medical experts. He assigned me to this team for the time being."

"That's rather impressive."

"Thank you. Your record is quite impressive as well."
I started thinking about the implications of the Nihlan Emperor sending one of his personally retained medical experts to be the combat medic for the team. The thoughts that ran through my head did not make me like the situation any better.

"The Emperor is trying to stack the Tournament in our favor as much as he can without breaking any rules, isn't he?"

Doctor Miira looked at me, and didn't answer. The doors slid open and she hurried through, avoiding answering my question. I walked quickly after her, my wounds having healed on the way. As I caught up to her, she turned, looked me in the eyes, and whispered a yes. Then, we stepped onto an elevator, and took it down to the main floor of the docking station. Waiting for us were the rest of my team, five stellar examples of the cat-people of Kittaara. Lean strength and primal grace rippled though their bodies, giving an impression of power and dexterity, even when they were standing still. Also, the fact that they were clad in skin-tight, full-body battle suits with all manner of weaponry and ammunition strapped to them helped their aura of deadly grace quite a bit. Despite myself, I was impressed by their gear kit and the familiarity with which they handled it.

"That's the rest of our team, I assume, Doctor Miira."

"Yes, it is. It was kind of them to meet us here."

Doctor Miira and I stepped out of the elevator and greeted the team. I introduced myself to them, with full formality, as Nathaniel Griffin of the Terran Elite SWAT Alpha Team. They introduced themselves as Tathia Bloodbeast, Gaus Coldheart, Merabis Highwind, Kurra Steelshadow, and Atanyali Angelfang. Kurra Steelshadow was the Alpha Female and the team's leader, Gaus Coldheart and Merabis Highwind were the team's markswomen/snipers, Tathia Bloodbeast was the squad's demolitions expert, and Atanyali Angelfang was the squad's heavy weapons expert. After a while, I noticed something strange. The Kittaaran women were sniffing the air around me, as if scenting some unusual fragrance, one that they found pleasing.

"Hey, ladies, I know I'm new and everything, but… what gives?

Kurra took a second to snap out of it, and gave me a shrewd look before replying.

"You smell good, in a very unusual way. We will figure this out later. Now, we have to get back to HQ and begin our training. We have a lot of work to do to integrate you two into our team. Come on, we are low on time. The Tournament is only a few months away. We need to get ready."

Kurra led the team to a private shuttle, and we were transported to the headquarters, where we all took extensive medical exams, including blood tests, and then were sent to begin immediate, grueling, training. Daily exercises in team based combat, daily weapons training, explosives training, survival training, hand-to-hand combat training, and agility training. The training lasted exactly one month and two weeks, before we were shipped off to face destiny.

Apparently, Destiny was taking a break, because the most infamous Tournament in the multi-verse started with a formally attired banquet on the Nihlan home planet of Nihlus. When I asked Kurra answered that we were exempted from the qualifying rounds that most of the other contestants had to go through. When I asked her why, she told me it was because we were a sponsored team. Non-sponsored contestants had to qualify to be in the Tournament.

The banquet was held in a great hall, opulently furnished and massive bordering on gargantuan, with a large, raised dais at the head of the hall, where the Nihlan Emperor and his Consort were seated. Instead of a banquet table, there were hundreds of Nihlan serving men and women gliding gracefully through the hall, carrying platters of delicious foods from all across the galaxy. There were platters from the Kittaaran home planet, from the Terran home planet, local dishes that were as exotic to me as the Nihlans themselves, and dishes from almost every corner of the galaxy. I felt guilty, thinking about all those contestants going through hell while I was feasting at a banquet hosted by the most powerful being in the entire galaxy. I thought about my poor missing niece and the horrors that she must be suffering through, and I felt my resolve harden.

After a few hours, the Nihlan Emperor stood and addressed the crowd, with a hidden microphone pumping his amplified voice throughout the hall.
"Brave warriors, I salute you. In 24 hours, you will enter the galaxy's most grueling and dangerous Tournament. Today is your last chance to honorably drop from the lists of contestants. Tomorrow, you will have to fight your way through a veritable hell. You will be hot-dropped into the galaxy's most hostile planet. This year's Tournament is not about killing, or dominating, or proving who is stronger. This year's Tournament is about survival. The Crucible World has been rebuilt from core to surface, and it has only one goal now, and that is to kill you. If you set foot on that planet, it will do its best to kill you in a most painful fashion. You will experience fear, hunger, thirst, and pain as you have never experienced them before. Ask yourselves now if competing in this
Tournament is worth several deaths worth of suffering, for death is all but assured. Now, for those willing to suffer as no one in the galaxy has suffered before, step forward and take your place as Contestants of the Crucible Tournament."

As the rest of the hall stood frozen, petrified by their fear, I stepped forward and met the Nihlan Emperor's gaze.

"I stand ready."

Twenty four hours later, my team and I dropped feet-first into a hell that could not be described, a place where life was rare and death commonplace and the dead outnumbered the living by far. Seconds after we landed, the planet came alive in a way that no one expected. Hover drones darkened the skies and attacked anyone caught out in the open while crawler drones scoured the land. What's worse is that the very ground constantly shifted and formed hazardous terrain, constantly shifting from smooth planes of sheet metal to jagged razor hills and towering mountains. Sometimes, the planet didn't even wait for you to leave to shift. My team sustained brutal injuries, but Doctor Miira unrivaled skill saved our lives time and time again, turning near fatal wounds into vicious scars. The other sponsored teams were not so fortunate. Their medics were skilled experts, but they could not handle the threats that the Crucible world posed. After a nightmarish month on that planet, my team was declared the winners. After all, we were the only living things left.

At the Award Ceremony, the Nihlan Emperor met us in person to grant our wishes. He shook our hands, one by one, and asked each of us our wishes, nodding at the Kittaaran's wishes for their planet to be aided, and for vengeance to be exacted on the criminals responsible for the assault on Kittaara. My wish was a lot simpler.

"I wish to have my niece returned to me, alive and well."

The Nihlan Emperor put his hand on my shoulder, his grip conveying warm and confidence, and looked me in the eye.

"It shall be done."