Darkening Skies: Knightfall
The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.
Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.
Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.
Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.
Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.
Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.
Chapter 6
The Great Expanse…
Marrshal carefully worked his way through decaying passages of the ancient hulks, careful to avoid damaging any part of the ruined battleships lest they collapse. Several Talons followed him, carefully threading their way along the path he was marking out with chalk, his warnings of the potentially deadly consequences of straying from the path enough to convince them to dutifully stick to the trail. Knowing they were likely quite stressed out from the byzantine nature of the route, Marrshal reassured them that they were close to their final destination, prompting a relieved sigh from the Talons behind him. Sometimes the Talons could be so predictable, hence why his ranks generally were small compared to those of the other commanders since he hated such predictability, although he did value dependability… Probably why so many Talons that went through training for his command went insane and had to be confined for their own safety.
At long last, the group reached their destination: a large egg-shaped chamber located in the heart of what had once been the largest vessel in the ghost fleet. Time and foolish scavengers had left their mark on the relic however and nearly a third of the vessel had disappeared in the uncounted ages it had lain here; skeletal framework and lone girders of some unknown metal indicated where portions of the vessel had fallen away and been impaled on the rocky spires below. Even here signs of the relentless decay of time could be seen where deck plates had fallen off their supporting frames, rust having eroded through whatever bindings were holding the ship together. The Crystal Forge itself was an impressively simple machine composed of sixteen curved spines of clear crystal arranged around a single hollow crystal tube that ran from the floor to the ceiling. Inside the tube were two additional crystals; one was a ring of blood red crystal that floated at the same height the crystal spines reached to, the other was a small dish made of deep blue crystal that evidently served as the focusing element of the device based on Marrshal's own observations. Beyond that though, he truly had only the most general idea of how the machine functioned. This expedition would change all that however, provided they survived such an extended stay this close to the Great Expanse.
"Sir?" one of the Talons asked, intruding on his thoughts, "I don't think we'll be able to move that device like Master Cyclonis wants."
"Of course we will not be able to move it right now; the device is quite clearly integrated into the vessel." Marrshal replied in an even tone. If these fool Talons could recognize such a problem after a moment's glance, what made them think he had not seen it before? Then again, they had only the vaguest idea of who he was so he could understand their desire to state the obvious and possibly earn points with him that might lead to a later promotion. He had no intention of serving their ambitions. "Our lady clearly would understand that and does not expect us to simply pack the device up and bring it to her."
"But she ordered us to…"
"Aware of what she asked of us you may be, but aware of the full implications you clearly are not. Now, go and see where those conduits lead and scout the vessel for any hostile entities." Marrshal said, indicating the teal cylinders of crystal that ran into the metal receptacles the spines were set into and then ran under the corroding deck plates to other sections of the ship. "Be careful, it would be most unfortunate if you were to fall through the floor and into the empty void below."
As the Talons skulked away, shaken by his evident delight at the thought of them falling into the empty air below, Marrshal turned back to the various consoles surrounding the device. There had to be some notes left over, no civilization this advanced left behind records on decayable medium, the residents of the Forbidden City had certainly known better than that. Finally, after several minutes of searching, he found what he was looking for: sheets of flat crystal with some archaic text etched into the smooth orange surfaces of the plates. The language was difficult to read, even his years of study in ancient and forgotten dialects only barely allowed him to translate the words written on the sheets.
To anyone who might find this fleet, know this:
We of the Stormweaver Order have been maligned as oblivion incarnate for the one we serve is malevolence incarnate and it was by his order and command that we made war upon the foolishly complacent people of the Atmos. Such fools could never hope to comprehend our true purpose.
So we declared war on the terras now desolate within this, what is now called the Great Expanse as predicted by our Dark Oracle. They stood little chance against us, and we would have won the war save for a fateful encounter here at the borders of this forsaken region. It was here that we encountered that accursed order known as the Ancients, the Sky Knights as it were. They laid waste to our fleet and bound our soldiers within this zone with massive crystal energies that we had never seen before. So did they create the Great Expanse to hide the truth of the horrors we unleashed. We escaped though, and pursued our enemies across the Atmos, trying to find where they hid. In battle after battle they defeated us until they finally bound the majority of us remaining within an eternal sleep. My two followers and I escaped however and came here to watch these ruins and nurture our chance for retaliation. The energy left is not enough however, and we will not live to see our hope renewed and so I leave this message that our descendents might know what to do.
Also know that they were broken, betrayed by one of their own seeking glory and that betrayal weakened the binds that hold us and our creations. To those who come after, claim your birthright and lead our forces against the fools, destroy them all. For we are the storm, we cannot be stopped and we shall make the Atmos pay for their transgressions against us.
Matyrn V'latice, Caretaker of the Ruins
As he finished reading the account, Marrshal tossed the sheets onto the console before him, slapping his hand down an instant later to stop the plates from rattling around as they settled.
"Well, these are very interesting, but utterly useless with regards to understanding the functioning of this device…" Marrshal mused to himself and he slowly circled around the entire structure. The crystal spines were completely smooth, without markings of any kind. Whatever secrets the device held, it clearly was not going to yield them to him without a lot of hard work on his part. This suspicion was confirmed a moment later as the Talons returned, reporting that the conduits ended by plugging into sockets connected to rings of a similarly colored crystal which surrounded a cloud of emerald crystal shards contained within a glass tube. All of it was very interesting and ultimately useless to understanding how the device actually functioned. After hearing the report of each Talon in turn, he casually dismissed them to go and set up a perimeter and inform the scientists he had brought that it was safe to come onboard. While he waited for the scientists to make their way to the chamber, Marrshal contemplated what he did know. From the reports, he had concluded that each of the 'generators' for the device were equidistant from the core of the Forge. This was likely crucial to the proper functioning of the machine, although only time would tell.
"Reporting for duty sire." His scientists said in flat tones as they walked into the Forge chamber.
"Excellent, make a thorough study of everything here on this vessel and keep those fool Talons in line. I shall return to Cyclonia to make a preliminary report, you shall make the final report. Keep in mind the ultimate objectives here and make sure that those Talons never reveal to anyone what was found here." Marrshal said; heading for the door and pocketing the crystal sheets he had discovered as he passed by where he had laid them. These sheets were of particular interest to him and merited special attention, especially considering the information they contained.
Starling sat quietly on the launch deck of the Condor, gazing at the pale sunrise as it dawned on a new day… a day now ruled by the iron hand of Cyclonia and nearly devoid of hope. That they would fight on and they would eventually triumph was the one hope they all clung to now. She had informed the remaining Sky Knights of everything that had transpired, including her own theories on what was really happening to the Storm Hawks. They were skeptical, but at least they were receptive to the conclusions presented. It was a start, and they had at least agreed to try and find a way to save the two wayward Sky Knights, particularly when Starling pointed out that the two would have a good deal of information pertaining the Cyclonian operations and plans if they could be turned back to the good fight. With motivated (if not particularly hopeful, what an odd combination…) troops at her back, the real question for Starling was where to go from here. Although her first inclination was to rescue the enslaved Storm Hawks, practicality dictated that they try to find and rescue the missing Sky Knights first. At least with more Sky Knights on their side, they would pose a significant threat to Cyclonia again. They would recover from this and they would restore the good name of the Storm Hawks, Starling swore it.