Red Dragon Spaceship Awakening: I Gain Alien Abilities on Mars-Chapter 197: Late Night
The night had settled over the Red Crest Clan base like a heavy blanket, the sky above Mars painted in deep purples and blacks, punctuated by the cold glitter of distant stars.
The base itself had gone quiet, most of its inhabitants already retired to their quarters, the common areas dimmed and empty. Only the perimeter remained active, patrolled by guards whose silhouettes moved through the pools of light cast by the security lamps.
It was well past midnight when Lyra and Riven finally returned.
They approached the main gate on foot, their shopping bags hanging from their arms, their heels clicking softly against the paved pathway that led up to the entrance. Both of them looked tired but happy, their earlier energy from the mall trip faded into a pleasant exhaustion that came from a day well spent.
The guards at the gate recognized them immediately. One of them, a stocky man with a scarred jaw and the kind of posture that came from years of military discipline (something he had mastered over the years through countless drills and real combat situations) nodded in greeting as they approached. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
"Ladies," he said, his voice gruff but not unkind. "Out late tonight."
Riven flashed him a tired smile. "Yeah, we lost track of time. Shopping does that."
The other guard, a younger woman with short-cropped hair and sharp eyes, glanced at the bags they were carrying and smirked. "Looks like you had a successful trip."
"Very successful," Lyra confirmed, shifting the weight of her bags slightly. "Worth every credit."
The first guard chuckled, stepping aside to let them through. "Alright, get some rest."
The ladies nodded, offering the guards polite goodbyes before stepping through the gate and into the quiet interior of the base.
They walked in silence through the empty corridors, their footsteps echoing faintly off the polished floors. The base felt different at night: larger, somehow, and lonelier. The usual hum of activity was gone, replaced by a stillness that was both peaceful and slightly eerie.
When they reached the hallway where their quarters were located, they paused outside their respective doors.
"Today was fun," Lyra said, her voice soft in the quiet.
Riven smiled, a genuine, warm expression that reached her eyes. "Yeah. It really was. We should do it again sometime."
"Definitely."
They exchanged a final goodnight, and then each of them disappeared into their rooms, the doors sliding shut with a soft hiss.
Lyra set her bags down by the foot of her bed and collapsed onto the mattress with a long, satisfied sigh. Her dress was still on, her shoes kicked off somewhere near the door, and she did not have the energy to do anything more than lie there and stare at the ceiling. Her mind drifted back over the day: the boutiques, the restaurant, the conversation about boyfriends and loss and everything in between.
It had been a good day. A really good day.
And with that thought still lingering in her mind, she let her eyes drift closed and sleep claimed her almost immediately.
Down the hall, Riven was doing much the same. She had changed out of her red dress and into something more comfortable, a simple tank top and shorts, and now she sat on the edge of her bed, scrolling idly through the holographic interface of her personal comm device. Messages from friends...nothing urgent really.
She dismissed them all with a swipe of her hand and set the device aside.
She lay back on the bed, pulling the covers over herself, and let herself drift off with a faint smile still on her lips.
———
Tatehan woke to the soft chime of his alarm, a gentle ripple of sound that pulled him out of sleep without jarring him awake. He blinked up at the ceiling of his quarters, the faint glow of the sunrise simulation already beginning to brighten the room in gradual increments. It was a feature he had not asked for but had come to appreciate: a way to ease into the day rather than being thrown into it.
He lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, letting his mind catch up with his body. Today was not the summit. That was tomorrow. But today was still important in its own way. It was the last day before everything ramped up again, the last bit of calm before the storm.
With a low groan, Tatehan swung his legs out of bed and stood, stretching his arms above his head until his shoulders popped. He padded across the room to the small adjoining bathroom, the floor cool beneath his bare feet.
The bathroom was compact: smooth surfaces and efficient design. Tatehan grabbed his toothbrush from the counter, squeezing a line of paste onto the bristles before scrubbing at his teeth with the kind of efficiency that came from doing the same routine every morning for years now. He used to brush his teeth back on Earth everyday, and now that he was on Mars, he was still doing the same. Some habits, it seemed, transcended planets.
He rinsed, spat, rinsed again, and then moved to the shower.
The water was hot and strong, the pressure just right, and he stood under the stream for longer than he probably needed to, letting the heat work out the stiffness in his muscles. He had been pushing himself hard in battles over the past few days, and his body was feeling it, even with the partial Regeneration.
The partial Regeneration was even the reason he could stand and walk and... just breathe properly.
Without it, he would be spending up to six months on a sick bed, maybe longer. The injuries he had sustained fighting the Obscuron’s forces, the broken ribs, the torn muscles, the internal bleeding: all of it would have been crippling without his ability slowly knitting him back together. This ability of his was definitely among his best, (it was real life saver) right after Gravity Manipulation, that is.
