Starbound Cold Protection Novels & Stories

​I didn’t reach the pits in time to stop the horror. I was intercepted in the central hub by a elite squad of Aegis “Nullifiers”—humans in heavy, pressurized white suits designed to withstand absolute zero temperatures. They carried liquid-nitrogen sprayers and high-frequency sonic cannons that disrupted the air around them, making it nearly impossible for me to form the ice shields I usually relied on for defense. They moved in a tactical diamond formation, closing in on me with the cold efficiency of professional hunters.

The warning from the system was still ringing in my head as I locked the door to my private master bedroom. Negative sixty degrees. At that temperature, steel becomes brittle enough to shatter like glass, and exposed skin freezes solid in under sixty seconds. The *Crimson Blaze Tomatoes* wouldn't be enough to keep my people alive through that. I needed something much stronger. Sitting cross-legged on my bed, I closed my eyes and focused on the burning core in my chest. *‘Enter Sovereign Space.’*

The Moonfall bunker was experiencing the winter season. The Dead Zone surface froze after the explosion, which brought chilling temperatures that spread through Sector Two's large opening. The warm underground air which had been present for weeks turned into a harsh freezing wind. I stood at the Sector Two chokepoint while two heavy wool blankets wrapped around my body over my sweater.

She looked exhausted, her fingers blue from the cold. "How long?" Baraka asked. Eliana didn't need to ask what he meant. She checked her heavy mechanical wristwatch. "They've been burning for forty minutes," Eliana shouted over the gale. "The thermal Actives out on the wings are taking the brunt of it. They are exposed to minus-twenty-degree wind chill while simultaneously generating two-thousand-degree plasma from their hands. The Caloric Debt is going to hit them all at once. If we don't swap them out soon, they will fall into hypothermic shock and drop out of the cowlings."

The sky above the Zenith City was no longer a mystery, it was a fortress, the "Starlight Winter" had retreated, leaving behind a world that felt scrubbed raw and dangerously visible, high above the atmosphere, the thirteen new stars, the Sentinels, sat in a perfect, geometric ring, pulsing with a rhythmic, cold blue light that mocked our newfound peace.

Resisting thoughts of heresy, Bjorn determined these minor vapors an extended outreach of Cloud. The storms were limited to the south and presented no local problems. The overhead sun remained a moisture-sucking globe of light, heat, and radiation held at bay by the reflective surface of the Rand Solar shielding system. Everywhere the horizontal viewpoint remained unhindered by the minor accumulations of moisture, the sky displayed an array of bluish tones overwhelmed by the natural light prism.

Temperature: -60°C. The Valkyrie (a prototype VTOL dropship stolen from the Syndicate and repainted) roared through the blizzard. Inside, the Shield Team was gearing up. They weren't wearing rags anymore. They wore Mark V Exoskeletons—sleek, insulated, powered armor designed by Sterling Corp. Jack checked his heavy rotary cannon. "I hope they have heat... I hate the cold." "Approaching target," the pilot announced. "Station 5 is dark. No heat signatures."

I was here for a reason. Two guards in heavy winter uniforms approached, rifles strapped across their chests. One of them gave a sharp nod. “Follow.” I didn’t say a word. I just moved, boots echoing against iron steps as they led me past layer after layer of security. Doors slammed shut behind me one after the other, each one sounding more final than the last. By the time we reached the heart of the underground complex, the warmth had disappeared and the air was heavy. Cold in a different way. We reached a reinforced door.

It feels like my days are numbered staying in here. I struggled to stand up to check the outside from the window by holding my stomach and taking one step at a time but the room was located upstairs. It would be impossible for me to jump down. The compund was huge and beautiful and I could see several bodyguards in their black shiny black suit with thier guns in their arms. "This is a death game. I just escaped death and I'm in one. What if my former boss asked Antonio to get rid of me?" I asked myself.

“He’ll only come if needed.” “But…” “It’s necessary.” Gabriel looked down at her. The slant of the setting sun cast his brutally handsome features in a reddish glow as he continued explaining. “Just to protect you from all your Italian admirers, it seems.” “I don’t like the attention,” Calleigh whispered. “It’s bothering me terribly.” Calleigh could tell by the twist to his lips that he didn’t completely believe her. Her cheeks burned pink. She wished she were covered from head to toe in a padded snowsuit.