Sister Superior Arikia led her squad through the wastes of Necromunda on what she knew full well was a futile quest designed to slowly kill her and her Sisters by either starvation or poisoning. Currently, her squad was just recovering from getting ambushed-again-by the local wildlife of the planet, and it was getting tiring. Their power armor was holding up, but even then it wasn't designed for this kind of extended wear and tear.
The other major issue, besides the supplies getting close to a dangerous level, was that the area of the planet they had been tasked to search was...well, calling it barren was putting it mildly. So far, the only things that stood out over their search was the sludge sea, and a few small shelters and hamlets for the nomads that frequented the place. They were headed towards another one of them now, based on both pattern and the satellite scans, but getting there would take them around another three days at minimum.
Morale was low among her Sisters. They all considered this to be a punishment detail, something that was meant for them to atone for their "failure" to retrieve the STC from that cavern, and more importantly, it's loss to the small daemonic creature that was there.
Not that they could have done anything at all to stop it, but that was besides the point.
Arikia walked up to her second in command. "Beatrice. How is our supply situation?"
Sister Beatrice kept to her duties-currently maintenance of her weapon-even as she replied. "Supplies are good, ma'am. We still have enough to go before we are forced to return to the spire again. That is, assuming we are allowed to return…"
Arikia was having none of that. "Cease your foolish mutterings and focus your self on the Emperor's will, Sister. You will be needed for the trials to come."
This was the only response that she could give. Admitting to her own certainty that they had been left here to die was not conductive to keeping the already flagging morale from collapsing.
Beatrice nodded. "Yes, Sister Superior. Is there anything else you wish of me?"
"Not at this time. Please tend to our sisters before we depart."
"At once, Sister Superior."
They had been out here for weeks now, with minimal support at that. The Palatine had seen fit to deliver supplies to them at least once, but the way it had happened suggested that it had only occurred due to a creative interpretation of orders on the part of a pilot sympathetic to their plight, and even then it was nowhere near what would be needed to do a proper mission extension.
She stopped herself from sighing at the thoughts once again going through her mind. She had to be strong, and present that image of strength to her subordinates so that they knew they could rely on her.
Because even if her faith in the Emperor had not flagged, her faith in those who have been called to serve him most certainly had.
"Onwards, into the breach, and to our noble deaths…"
As time passed, we got into a very steady rhythm of things, as we got ourselves together and prepared for the next great adventure.
Fixing the ship had been the most pressing priority, especially when, after they had gotten all of the damned bulkheads and hatches open, that the vessel was equipped with both a suite of multipurpose drones and a set of Fighter craft. Upgrades on those would come afterwards, as the relatively small hangar bay for the four fighters was enough room to work on the needed upgrades while underway if needed. The internal hangar was surprisingly spacious for what it housed, having enough room for another four fighters inside as well as a pair of shuttles, a space for what I believed would have been the ship's runabout (or captain's personal yacht, as it were), and the one-hundred drones carried aboard the ship proper.
We fully intended that runabout slip to be used by the other spacecraft that was currently sitting in the shipyard, as well, but repairs and such came first.
The Kerbals had long-since completed their examination and appraisal of the smaller craft, and unlike it's larger cousin, it was in near perfect shape. The Star Seeker, as it was called, was intended to be a long-range scout ship and reconnaissance vessel, mapping out not only worlds but the various travel lanes between star systems as well. Unlike the ship that was once the Rising Phonenix, this craft was definitely equipped with a smaller version of the Infinity fusion reactors, and a rather neat life support system that made worries about air quality and oxygen levels a complete non-issue. Mio was working on upscaling it in her spare time.
As for the Phoenix itself...well…
It wasn't a total wash, but the ship still needed a complete overhaul and partial rebuild to get anywhere near close to safe operational parameters. Specifically, the reactor spaces had to be redone in their entirety due to the radiation everywhere, and the now defunct fission reactors replaced with something a bit more robust.
Combining that with general repairs on the (thankfully extendable) heat fins, the rest of the power and communications runs, and just a general overall upgrade to the ship in question, and it was almost, almost more time efficient to just build a new ship outright.
What stayed our hands was that using the already built vessel as a base allowed us to pull some shenanigans with things that would otherwise not apply, and salvage a lot of actually good tech from the mess as well. We were still upgrading, but it was the thought that counted. Besides, the actual Frame of the ship itself was perfectly sound, even if the interior sections had suffered.
The process was not as involved or painful as anyone had been expecting, really. Nearly every major modification that needed to happen had been accomplished well within the allotted time constraints, and reinforcing of several key areas of the superstructure were successfully undertaken as well. It seemed that now that we were not trying to explore the ship, things were moving much, MUCH faster, much to our relief.
The problem was the engines themselves, and more specifically the powerplant. Mio and I had been having several arguments over the last few days about what exactly would be best to fit into the ship as a new power plant, as well as options for an upgraded drive system. They weren't horrible arguments, but they still had driven a minor rift between us over the disagreement.
Not that it stopped us from being horny as hell for each other, just that it meant that our normal pillow talk was now absorbed by continuing the debate. It was getting to the point where Mio was actively trying to fuck me into submission over her proposal.
The thing is, it wasn't a bad one, just it didn't fit.
What she wanted to do was to make a scaled-up version of the Hybrid Mana reactors-the ones that integrated photon reactor tech into them-and use that as a main power core, then alter the engines to handle a conversion feed as needed.
My proposal, on the other hand, was to modify the ship to use a Mass Effect Drive, and then have the hybrid reactors as secondaries. The main advantage here was a higher subluminal speed as well as adding another option for FTL travel, aside from the potentially flawed hyperdrive and the other system that the logs called a "Jump Drive", which was still experimental as hell.
The headbutts came from the fact that Mio had argued that if I wanted to throw in a MED so badly, then I needed to design a new one that took advantage of our other tech as well, not just setting the stuff aside. My counterargument was that the systems would need to be repairable by people other than us, and that the mass effect drive had several benefits to it that were not immediately obvious.
Nether of us commented on the fact that we would be reworking the principles and concepts of the infinity reactors to the new build stuff, as there wasn't any reason to argue over it.
Oddly enough, the situation ended up solving itself in the oddest manner…
I was doing another walkaround of the Phoenix, and considering a new name as well. After all the work that we had done on the vessel, I felt it deserved it. In the meantime, I was futzing with yet another of the oddities that had been dropped onto my lap by the Forge.
According to the logs, this odd little flattened Sphere in my hands was called a "Union Core", a type of infinitely reprogrammable smartmatter core of some kind or another with the capacity for supporting a damned powerful AI system. My scans showed that the thing was fully quantum in both processing and communications, no less. Very interesting.
Those same scans also showed me that there was a lot of untapped potential in this weird little device. It was something that I would have to take a closer look at eventually.
A spike of joy from Mio caught my attention, and I felt her rapidly moving in my direction. I decided to meet her in the engineering decks, where I had set up all of the equipment needed for the newly designed ME drive core. (that Mio had parts and materials for the awaiting activation Hybrid reactors hanging around was not something I was worried about, as they were useful secondaries.)
Mio hit me with a flying glomp tackle as soon as she saw me, wrapping her tail around my torso in the process.
"I did it! I did it !" the sheer joy radiating off of her was downright infectious, and I found myself grinning like a loon to match her own. "Did what, hon?"
"This!" and with that, she presented to me a small white sphere.
I admit that it took me a moment to figure out the implication, mostly because up until now I hadn't actually given any thought to it actually being possible.
"You mean…?"
She nodded furiously.
I could only stare in wonder at the outright fucking miracle that was staring me in the face. Mio...Mio had managed to…
I had to focus. "Is this the only one?"
A firm shake of her head. "No way. I have at least six others waiting, and they look like they will clear testing as well. This one was just the first."
I could see the unshed tears in her eyes, and I was fighting awfully hard to not follow suit. This...this changed everything. Everything.
I hugged her tightly to my chest, wrapping my own tails around her form in reciprocation. "You are telling me how you pulled this off, and then we are going over the process with an ultra-fine toothed comb, you hear me?"
"Of course-"
An odd spark drew our attention. We both looked down between us, to the precious cargo that each of us had on our person. In the excitement, I had forgotten about the union core that I had been examining beforehand, and it had ended up wedged between us in our odd little cuddle session. This should not have been an issue.
Mio, for her part, had used the hand holding the precious little sphere to play around with me a bit, basically using the little sphere as a sort of massager. Mio being herself aside, this also should not have been an issue.
What was causing the sparking was that the two objects had come into contact with each other, and form the looks of it the two pieces of technology were trying to interface with each other.
A particularly large jolt, which came complete with an arc flash, caused us to separate, and move away from the mess as we dropped it onto the floor.
In retrospect, it was simultaneously the best and worst thing we could have done.
The two objects-one, an odd unknown quantum supercomputing core, the other a newly born reality bending supercomputing device, somehow came to an agreement at the exact moment that the mass hit the floor...of the spaceship that we were currently standing in.
The ship heaved as the mass sank into the floor, and I could see the ripples throughout the superstructure. Thoth immediately started flashing warnings at me, a mix of stability to power flux to spatial uncertainty warnings-as the process started.
But the one warning that caught my attention-and I'm sure Mio's too, as she was likely receiving the same-was a notice that we were entering the zone of control of another Impeller Field.
We literally could do nothing but watch as the ship began to shift around us, the entire thing being integrated into the newly activated valkyrie core, even as the strange conversion process was altering the ship into something else entirely.
The process, thankfully, only lasted about ten minutes, during which we were bombarded by all manner of exotic radiation, random particle emissions, and frankly weird interactions in spacetime that seemingly made no sense.
But eventually, the process completed itself, and we were left standing in a space that was nothing like we had left it.
For one, the leftover parts and pieces of our construction efforts were gone, as were the finished products. The standalone fabricators that we had brought along to build everything, and which were meant to eventually be installed into a separate hardware works space within engineering itself, was also gone. In its place was a screen of sorts, with a timer on it, counting down from sixty hours. A constantly modifying schematic of what looked like a reactor of some kind was displayed as well, and it looked to incorporate all of the myriad designs that we were working on to boot.
I could only stare in confusion as I allowed my frame to retract itself. Mio didn't look too much better as she released hers.
"So...that just happened." I was surprised I managed to even say that much.
"Yeah." Mio's reply was about as verbose as I expected, though.
I voiced the thought in my mind. "Right now, I am very glad you made more of those."
"So am I."
Wait. This meant that the argument was solved, as the ship itself had taken matters into its own hands. Which meant that I couldn't outlast Mio to get my way.
I turned towards my Dragon, the same realization showing on her face as she looked at me.
And it was only now, after the situation had been solved without our input, that we realized that we had enjoyed that bit of shenanigans that our arguments had caused.
Oh well. Not reason not to celebrate other things.
"So. We are going to ignore the ship being suddenly silly, and managing to hijack a Valkyrie Core for itself, and we are going to go and celebrate other things." I swept her up into a fierce hug, transferred it onto a very sensual carry, and started moving towards a space I knew was available. "Agreed?"
Mio's response was to silence me with a kiss, and it was all I could do to get us off the ship and into a secluded spot fast enough.
The weeks of training had been kind to Harry. His mana now flowed almost as if a second limb when he reached for it, and his spells were surprisingly powerful and varied. To hear Rico say it, "Not only had he taken well to the offensive arts, but to the defensive too, along with a few weird twists I'm sure will get enjoyed by many."
Simply put, he was a true and full Mage, and was rather proud of that fact.
Right now, he was waiting for the lovebirds to finish whatever it was they were doing to the ship that was their project of the last week or so, so that he could ask about getting himself set up with one of those operations orbs as a focus. Sure, he didn't need one, but Rico had pointed out that having a proper focus after having trained the way he did would up his efficiency (and thus his overall spell power) exponentially. And that was for what Rico referred to as a 'standard' device.
Now, it was unknown if the various operations orbs would have the same flexibility, but working around that was something that his friends were actually good at, for all that they kept tripping over their own feeling s for each other.
Besides, he also wanted to test himself against one of the two to see how well he held up as a proper magical combatant now. Sparring with Rico was all well and good, but Rico was his teacher, he knew full well that no matter what happened, there would be an ingrained sense that Rico was always his superior in that regard. Honestly, he thought that Miolala was a better challenge for him to face.
Speaking of the woman, he saw her and her partner coming back into the Hangar proper, both of them flushed and disheveled, and with wide grins on their faces as they talked. Judging by the obvious, and the fact that they were still all but hanging off of each other, they hadn't quite worked through their current bout of sudden affection just yet. He decided to give them something to focus on besides each other, for once.
"Hello there lovebirds. Finally coming back to the rest of us?"
To his surprise, Satori just looked at him, the same smile in his face "Yeah, the ship will be finished, or close enough to it, in about sixty-ish hours, give or take. Right now, there's nothing more that we can do to it, so we're over here to get back to our other projects."
Even Miolala didn't so much as bat an eyelash at the insinuation! "Nah, we can't do that yet. From the looks of him, Harrisyn wants to try something, and I think I know what it is."
Harry found himself quite amused that the two had grown close enough to (finally) admit their feelings for each other. Didn't mean he was going to stop ribbing on them about it, though.
Nor was it going to stop him from seeking out a test of his capability. "As a matter of fact, I did have something I wanted to ask you two about."
It was Satori who answered this time. "I take it you want to see what you can really do, now that you're all trained up." The man looked thoughtful for a moment. "Sure, why not. The practice would be good for all of us, anyway."
The three of them moved over to the open space that comprised the "runway" portion of the flight zone. Currently, the few Kerbals who weren't messing around in the space dock area ('No, they said it was a shipyard, right?') were over here playing with various drone flyers, with what looked like a small case of drinks (likely intoxicating) and a mini-cooler off to the side. Guess even they have days off…
"So." Satori grabbed Harry's attention as they got to a relatively clear area they could use. "Anything in particular you want to work on, or is this more of a general purpose spar?"
Harry actually had to think about it for a moment before answering. "I think we should stick to the mage arts in this. It's practice, after all…"
There were nods shared all around as everyone agreed to the terms, and then the fun began.
Because, unlike Miolala, who had focused on improving her physical offensive capabilities, or Satori, who preferred and practiced a more balanced style between physical and magical abilities, Harry had focused entirely on magic as a means of combat.
This meant that he had far more tricks up his sleeve in the limited environment than the other two did, and used them to extreme effect.
Barriers that absorbed and reflected attacks back at their source, with interest, floating mines that would deploy various binding methods, entire walls made of magical force to partition and control the battlefield, even on-the-fly traps that could relocate the poor sap caught in them to areas of maximum pain and suffering. This didn't even get into the constant swarms of homing bullets that could and would be redirected manually at any time, or the supercharged orbs of energy that acted as mobile turrets and foci for other shenanigans.
Harry didn't even bother breaking out the heavy artillery, as the small stuff was enough to completely take over the battlefield in his favor without ever having to even enter melee range at all. That did mean that he never got to use some of the other tricks he'd learned, though…
After the conclusion of the exercise, he decided to have a little fun, and brag about it, just a bit.
"So, then. This is the limit of what you have accomplished? Seriously? Where was all the amazing feats, the overwhelming power? Was all it took to actually beat you at your own game, having someone who actually knew how to play?
"I'm disappointed, my friends."
Harry was looking directly at the two of them as he delivered his (teasing) verbal smackdown. This was the only reason he was aware of the fact that Miolala had moved at all.
His next sensation was that of something being pressed to his jugular. It didn't feel sharp, but the message was very clear in its intent.
Miolala removed the impromptu object (a small cylindrical rod of metal) and stepped away from Harry's person as she spoke. "Just because we aren't as good at magic as you doesn't mean we haven't been keeping up. We just have different priorities, Harrisyn."
Oddly enough for the normally rather competitive woman, she was smiling.
"And good job. I expect to see further improvements as we go on. You will be tested later."
Ah. so that was it. Harry saw very clearly now. And recognized himself as a fool for daring to awaken the Dragon.
The back-and-forth going on between Harry and Mio was great. Harry managing to push himself the way he had in creating and adapting to that magic style of his was quite the touch...but it had also awoken a side of Mio that I had only begun seeing recently, and it was about to bite poor Haay in the ass.
Not that I had to worry much. It would just drive both of them to excel, one way or the other, and by extension make sure that they survive what this crazy galaxy will try to throw at us next.
What I could do right now is get a proper focus working for Harry so that he had a bit more to work with. That, and the upgrades, would benefit us all in the process.
Time to find Rico.
"Alright, guys. As much as you two want to snipe at each other for a bit, I'm gonna need Harry for this next part. Now, you know where Rico ran off to? I'll need his input."
Harry perked up at that. "That reminds me. I'd wanted to ask you about getting one of those operations orbs of yours to use as a focus, on Rico's recommendation. Got anything I can use?"
Well now. That solves a lot of problems. "I was about to ask you about the same. Come on, we'll need the workshop for this."
I decided to explain the Idea I'd been working with for a bit with Harry while we walked. "So, the next iteration of the operations orbs is meant to act more in harmony with the user's own mana patterns than the old ones. I was also working on relaxing the more restrictive elements of both the orbs and the magic system that evolved around their use, with the intent of fusing the style with Rico's.
"I'd ended up banging my head on a bit of a mental block before we started working on the ship, but I still used a bit of spare time to do workups on other stuff in the process. One of those was the synchronization system that I'd managed to port over from Rico. because it's not trying to work out a synch rate for full unison, it's a lot more relaxed in its tolerances, but you'll probably still need a bit to get used to it...and the system itself is more likely than not to need adjustments and tweaks for optimization along the way."
Harry was nodding along as he listened. "So, these new ones are the same bit that you were trying to get the integrated omnitool functionality built in to them?"
I see he'd made a point to keep up on my projects after the last incident. "Err...sorta. I've actually had the issue with those solved for a while now, but it required me to basically rebuild the entire omnitool from scratch to fit the purpose, and if I was doing that, I figured I might as well do it right. It's one of the features going into the final build, at any rate."
We'd arrived at the workshops, and made our way inside, only to be semi-blindsided by the addition of some new gear and equipment hanging around the place. Quickly checking the paper log (we'd set one up to keep track of who was doing what where, as the Kerbals tended to have odd projects hanging around at the weirdest times) I realized that we'd had another 'stealth' drop from the forge...or rather, I was too busy dicking down Mio (much to her enthusiasm) to pay attention when they showed up.
Of the additions, the weirder one was something that claimed to be able to build in four dimensions instead of three, which was interesting but equally outside of any knowledge base I had available to me, and thus ignored for my own sanity. The slightly more relevant one was a skill for crafting weapons of a...specific providence that had abilities that either were drawn from or mimicked the abilities of various devils and demons. There was a skill package attached to it as well, but I'd get to that later on.
The relevance was because the weapons themselves could be attuned to the user just as well as the user attuned to the weapon, and they allowed for one to utilize a form of hidden power by wielding them, though it was draining. I would be making use of the first part for my build.
The very build that I would have to possibly rework entirely at one point because I'd also just had the rest of the Shiekah tech knowledge dumped into my head...along with some things that I would need to handle later. Sneaking a glance at Mio, she had the same issues that I did.
We were going to need a rather lengthy cuddle session to work through this one...
Anyway, mind back in the game. I had a working build that could be used as a test type for a proper synchronization with its user, so we would be working with that. I had jokingly given it the codename of Agnes as a nod to some more of the Amiga banding.
As usual, assembly of the physical product was a non-issue. The real test would be when Harry attempted to activate the orb properly. Would it sync? Would it explode? These were the questions I wanted answered...preferably without any more issues like the one that had happened to me previously.
Harry seemed to be apprehensive about the test frame as well. "So, just to make sure...this is the version that is not going to explode just because I tried actually using it?"
I was both amused and annoyed at his mistrust of the tech, but, again, examples had been made. "No, the chances of it exploding is near zero unless you intentionally push for it...which will be difficult due to the redundancies built in."
Harry still gave me a skeptical look, but eventually started the process to attune to and access the orb. For a moment, things were tense, the orb taking its sweet time to actually do a proper startup...but then I felt everything seem to *click*, and the whole mess came alive in ways that I'd never thought were possible to my senses.
Note to self: work on a way to shield the emissions a bit more.
Harry grunted a bit as the connections settled into place. From the feel of it, the orb seemed to do a kind of...pre-shaping? Or something like that. It was weird and unusual, at least to my senses.
Wouldn't hurt to ask, anyway. "So, Harry. How's it feel?"
He took a moment to consider the question. "Actually, pretty good. I think I can make this work quite nicely, as long as it can hold up to the strain of me actually using it."
I chuckled at that. Ever the pragmatist, he was. "It'll be fine, and it's a modular build anyway, so swapping parts out should be easy. Now then, let's get to work on the real testing, shall we?"
The journey to their destination had ended up taking over a week due to an unexpected storm swamping their progress, but they had made it to their destination, an old, worn out shelter that looked like it would put a decent roof over their heads for a night while the next move was considered. Arikia was grateful to the Emperor for such small mercies, anyway.
Her team was losing itself to doubt and fear, now, lost in the constant struggle to keep moving even as their supplies grew more and more scarce, and it became ever more obvious that the grand task they had been set out to accomplish was actually to die.
As Sister Superior, Arikia had fought tooth and nail to keep their spirits high as the obvious death march continued onwards into the wastes of their world. Unfortunately, it was becoming ever more apparent to her that her struggles would end in vain.
Nonetheless, she persevered in His name, that they might, if nothing else, die with the honor of having maintained their faith and charge to the last, even if it was spent needlessly.
'This much, at least, I can do.'
The shelter looked, like all the others, to be run down and decrepit, though at least with the walls still intact. At least, that was the looks of it, until they tried to gain access, only to realize that the structure was actually a bit larger than it looked, and seemed to have a type of subtle airlock system as well to keep the toxic air out of the shelter.
Sister Mariel, their resident technical expert, was (mostly) certain that the place was safe. "I do not see anything that would amount to a danger on this side, Sister Superior. I believe that we could pass through unimpeded."
Arikia nodded. The plan was as sound as it was going to get, then. "Very well. Rikah, Lisbeth, take point. I want no surprises."
The pair, who were her recon and close-range specialists respectively, moved to comply, managing to gain entry with little fanfare. They quickly waved the rest inside as the area proved all-clear.
The problem is that the inside made no sense.
Sure, there was a moderately largish room, with enough space for them to camp out in relative comfort. Sure, there was also the air purification unit that was running in the space, cleansing the toxins and smog that were endemic to the surface out of the area, meaning that they could doff helmets given enough time. Even the fact that the structure itself was very obviously partially buried into the earth as a means of both support and disguise were not that big of a deal.
The problem was the door that clearly only existed to be a door, and that equally should not have led to anywhere that was important in the slightest...but that was currently opened into a space that was...confusing to them, from what little they could see.
Arikia quickly made a judgement call, and activated her radio. "Vox only from here on until I say otherwise. Silent movement. Whatever is here, we will find out soon enough...and we will deal with it appropriately."
Five nods of assent answered her orders.
"Annalise, cover our entry." Sister Annalise was the team's resident sharpshooter, and would have received honors for her skill if not for her involvement with Arikia, something which the Sister Superior pushed out of her mind. There would be time enough for doubts later.
Especially as the inside of this structure proved to defy all common sense. It appeared to be a storage center of some type, or perhaps a hangar, complete with the requisite scattering of odds and ends and various large tools about. The theory cemented itself in her mind when she saw the various stands and equipment that were well-known to her.
And then she was confused once again when the Hangar opened up into a bright blue sky, the ground beneath complete with Idyllic grass and a solid runway for use by aircraft. A quick visual search showed the craft in question, though she had never seen anything of their like.
She noticed that Mariel was slightly vibrating in her armor, likely something related to the various histories that she studied as a hobby. Something to ask about, later.
Voices could be heard coming from the other side of the hangar, and Arikia quickly ordered her sisters to conceal themselves as well as possible. The source of the voices soon became apparent.
A group of small, green Xenos, most of them wearing something ain to white jumpsuits. Some new variant of Ork?
There was one that stood out, though, and appeared to be the leader of the group, as well: a slightly taller xeno wearing an orange version of the jumpsuits that seemed to be the uniforms of these creatures.
"Maintain your concealment and do not engage."
The xenos creatures seemed preoccupied in whatever it was that they were working on, and did not pay her team any mind. In fact, judging solely from a human perspective, they actually seemed as if they were somehow intoxicated. The group drifted off to another location, whereabouts uncertain.
Their movements, however, did draw the team's attention to something that was very familiar to them all, and which just so happened to be the item that they were looking for.
Mariel was the first to comment. "That's the STC...and it looks to be undamaged. What is going on?"
Rikah chimed in next. "I don't know, but it is obvious that we have not been told all of the pertinent information in this case. Most would have destroyed or corrupted the database, not sought to gain from it."
"Enough. We have other things to be concerned with at the moment." Beatrice cut them off, reestablishing order over the group. She then turned to Arikia. "Orders, Sister Superior?"
"We will investigate. If things look clear, then we will attempt to reclaim the STC and depart. If it becomes a struggle, we call the location in and await reinforcements." Which she did not want to do; something about this situation did not sit right with her, and her gut was telling her that calling down the thunder on this place was the worst possible thing they could do.
Listening to that gut feeling had saved her life on more than one occasion, those times when the Emperor's hand was not present.
"We investigate the side rooms for now, to see if we can locate something to make recovery and transport of the STC easier. From there, we improvise as needed. The Emperor will guide our hands in this matter. Weapons tight unless engaged; they don't know we're here, and I want it to stay that way.
Creeping around in full power armor was, oddly enough, something that they managed to pull off quite well, mostly due to the lack of others to hear the noise of their movement. As they were closest to what looked like some kind of central workshop, Arikia decided to have her squad search there first.
The insides were as expected. It was indeed some kind of machinery shop or repair station, with what looked to be scattered parts all over the place, and various loose odds and ends on the supply shelves. Of note was that one of the workbenches had a project sitting on it, complete with what looked like some form of timer floating above it. The actual contents of the workbench were even odder: a series of seven small spheres, with nothing truly notable to distinguish them in one way or another. For all intents and purposes, they looked ordinary.
And yet, Arikia felt the strangest urge to take those spheres and guard them by any means necessary. It was completely at odds with her normal bearing and demeanor, and she shook herself as subtly as possible to clear her head before focusing on the Will of the Emperor, and his plan for them.
In a strange twist, this simple prayer of centering only made the urge stronger.
"Sisters, be on guard. There is a mental compulsion at work."
Her squad immediately braced itself for combat...all but Mariel, who seemed to be entranced by the spheres. "No, Sister Superior. This is no compulsion. It is, however, important. We need to take those spheres. And quickly...I don't know how much time we have."
Arikia frowned under her helmet. Such inspiration from the Emperor was rare, and often misinterpreted by those who claimed to see what he desired of them. Far too many have been caught by the Ecclesiarchy attempting the heretical action of claiming to be a seer of the Emperor's Will.
This was Mariel, however. Her intuition on things technological was borderline miraculous in and on itself, and had saved them from many a danger in the past. If Mariel thought it was important and potentially tech-related, it usually was.
"Very well. Do what needs to be done, and let us continue to our objective at once. We cannot afford to dally any longer."
Mariel nodded, and moved to collect the spheres from the table, one of them took on a soft golden glow as she did so, and she moved it to her other hand.
Her helmet blocked the expressions of her face, but Arikia got the strangest feeling that she was seeing something, or focusing on another thing. Which of the two she was not certain, but she definitely noticed when Mariel called the squad to an immediate halt as they began to leave the workshop.
Her subordinate's voice over the comms was both harsh and somehow reverent. "Wait. We must not leave just yet. Each of you, take one of these." she handed her squadmates the other spheres. Arikia took the one offered to her with a bit of trepidation...and confusion as well, as for some reason the sphere felt almost like a rectangle in her hands, or some kind of softly spiky prism or another, despite looking to be completely round.
"I know you can feel the oddness, right? Press on that. Don't think about it, just press."
Again, Arikia nodded her assent to this strange happenstance, and did as she was asked...and watched in awe as the sphere seemed to vanish. In its place, came a different feeling, of her senses expanding and a strange understanding of the world around her, even as something else seemed to snap as it was tugged too tightly. Overall, she wasn't sure exactly what had just happened, but there were no ill effects, so she shrugged it off.
A sudden feeling of danger had her ordering her squad to withdraw out of the opposite exit, which they accomplished with due haste.
Whatever it was that just happened, they would figure it out later. Right now, they had to recover that STC as quickly as possible.
I blinked.
I had no idea why I suddenly became aware of that fact, but I blinked.
A finely honed sense of self-preservation immediately had me focusing on my surroundings, the tarmac of the runway, with open space all around. And yet I had blinked.
The subconscious is more aware of your surroundings than it appears. Anytime it starts sending out waning signs, it was important to pay attention. And something had definitely twigged me as being very off.
Harry noticed me being out of it as he practiced with his new orb. "Anything wrong, man?"
I still couldn't place what it was, though. My ears swiveled. "I...don't know. I need to check something. Gimme a bit."
It was a quick jog to the hangar proper, especially when I boosted my speed, but I still could not find anything that was immediately amiss. Sure, the floor could use a little cleaning, and we needed to get some deodorizer for the aircons, but it was fi-
Oh.
OH.
OH FUCK.
I glanced at the door leading to the exit, and the outside. The trail of mess came directly from that location, and fresh. The smell was exactly what I remembered of the polluted air outside smelling like, as well.
Well, this was bound to happen sooner or later.
[Mio; get to the main hangar, NOW. and suit up. We have Intruders.]
The spike of rage was almost visible from where I was standing, even as I began sweeping the surrounding area.
{Rico, Harry, Get to the main Hangar and be ready for a fight. We have Intruders.}
Much like with Mio, I didn't bother waiting for a response, I just moved on to the next task. My sweeps sent me to the center pillar and the workshops. A quick check of the outer area revealed nothing of import, and I was kicking up more active search abilities as I moved. So far, nothing yet, but it was only a matter of time.
Mio arrived on the scene, frame fully expressed and HV Cannons at the ready. Still nothing, but with her here, we could seep the workshops without getting jumped.
I switched to pure thought communication from here, not even hand signals. As one, we quickly moved to breach the main workshop, hoping to catch anyone off guard, but the maneuver showed nobody inside…
Mio's sudden shock caught my attention.
{They're gone. They're gone!]
I didn't have to ask what "they" were. Someone or something had jacked the other valkyrie cores. That was bad enough, but if it was some kind of chaotic faction, then them having an unbonded core meant that they could potentially corrupt the core itself and use it as a superweapon.
This could not be allowed to happen, no matter the cost.
I felt more than saw Harry and Rico arrive on scene. Again, I didn't bother talking.
{Harry, Take Rico and search the admin section. Be wary for ambushes and traps, and watch for unusual movement. We'll be right behind you after we sweep the rest of the workshops and labs.} Even in telepathy, my tone left zero room for argument, even from Harry.
I wasted no time in firing off a series of general-purpose search spells. Harry followed my lead, and soon we were doing active search on multiple fronts while physically moving.
The search spells almost immediately came up with results, though: A team of...really?
"Alright, everyone relax. I found them. Lemme see if I can talk to them before things get stupid."
There was visible confusion on everyone's faces as I said this, Harry's in particular because his search spells caught the same info mine did. Naturally, he was not amused.
"You are asking me to relax, when there's a fire team of Sororitas in our main base. Why?"
I didn't just chuckle, I outright laughed. "Because there isn't jack shit they can do against us, and unlike normal members of the Sisters of Battle, they fully damn well know it."
I raised my voice for the next part. "So, if you ladies wouldn't mind stepping out so we can talk, I'd appreciate it. Same truce as last time."
It took a moment, but eventually one of the Sisters stepped out of cover and approached our group. Her body language, as little as I could get from the full helmet and power armor, showed a bit of shock at seeing me. Probably the casual wear.
"And hello again, Sister. Or is it Sister Superior now? I noticed the new rank flashes on your armor."
The voice that answered had the usual tinniness of a vox-caster. "You are the one who fought the Xenos construct in the cavern." it was not a question.
"I am. And I will say right now that you are welcome in my hall, provided that you start no trouble. That being said, mind if I ask what brings you out to the middle of nowhere?" I had a guess as to what the reason was, but I wanted to hear it from them if possible.
A moment passed, and from the minor background noise increase I could hear, it was likely her communicating with her fellows. Shortly afterward, five other Sisters stepped out of their cover, all of them seeming to be both relieved and somehow dejected. The Sister Superior continued talking as they approached.
"Before that...how did you recognize me? The armor is very anonymizing."
And it was, but up close, that was no barrier to me. "Auspex scans can be very good when you get this close. Besides, armors like yours tend to have personalities. Anyone with the eye for the craft can see and recognize that plain as day."
The Sister Superior nodded in response. "I...see. Very well, then, I suppose formalities are in order." and with that, she reached up and removed her helmet, revealing an actually rather attractive brunette with a very striking pair of silver eyes. "I am Sister Superior Arikia Vanalyn, Order of the Ardent Shroud. My Sisters and I are assigned to the convent here on Necromunda. As for our mission…" She paused for a moment, debating on telling us or not, before coming to a decision. "We were sent to retrieve the STC that is currently in your possession."
I blinked. I felt Mio blink. Hell, I'm sure Harry blinked, as rare as that man emoting was.
This was completely and totally unexpected. Not that they would be searching for the STC, that much I knew as gonna happen as soon as I ordered Rico to cover for me jacking the damned thing. What shocked me was that this Sister Vanalyn outright told us that this was her objective, without actually shooting at anyone. It was a goddamned miracle, really.
And as much as I wanted to stall for time by turning to Mio for a question, the STC was one of my projects, and thus I was stuck. I decided to make a call. To keep things civil, though, I needed to explain a few things.
"Alright, I just wanna clarify that the STC is and remains undamaged and uncorrupted. Need to get that out of the way right now, before we go any further." Sister Vanalyn's face didn't change much, but there was a sense of blatant relief from the group as a whole.
"Anyway, I need to check on something. Give me a moment."
Sister Vanalyn looked at me in confusion as a window appeared in the air to the side of me, and Bill's face appeared. I noted the lack of surprise at seeing a Kerbal for later inquiry.
"Hey, Bill, you guys done with that project I asked you about?"
Bill, for his part, seemed to get what was happening right off and stuck to the script, impromptu as it was. "Yeah. the first batch of the lot is out and ready to go. Any time you're ready for 'em, you can swing by the 'shop and grab a set."
Excellent. I could probably salvage this. "Thanks Bill. I'll be in touch after I get some things sorted out."
Bill nodded and the connection window closed. I turned to Sister Vanalyn with a light smile. "Well, the good news is that a particular project of mine is bearing fruit, and I just might be able to part with the damned thing, provided you are willing to answer a few questions. This agreeable to you?"
Sister Vanalyn nodded. She was proving to be quite agreeable for being a member of by far the most zealous faction of the Imperium.
Alright, then, let's rip the band-aid off then. "First, do you know who sent you to retrieve this STC? And I don't mean your Palatine or anyone else in your actual chain of command, but the people pushing for what was a blatant suicide assignment outside of the damned miracle that let you find us. Do you know who they are?"
A silent shake of the head was my answer. My best guess is that she had suspicions, but nothing concrete and definitely nothing she wanted to voice. That alone narrowed the list of suspects down by a significant margin, as if there were major players like the Imperial Fists involved, there would be a bit of gloating. My best guess based on available info was currently the Inquisition, but that only raised more questions.
Anyway, back to the topic. "Second: does anyone else know that you are here? Some kind of check-in process or another? I need to know, so I can make allowances for you ladies to not get declared dead or something."
Sister Vanalyn seemed to deflate slightly, though I doubt that her Sisters saw it. "There is a process, yes, and we will need to do the check-in in approximately two hours."
I carefully schooled my face and made sure to not show anything, especially at that blatant of a lie. I'll give her props for trying to keep her Sisters alive, but that shit was horrible. That being said, I didn't call her out on it, and moved on to the next question, which was kind of important.
You see, Mio had been very, very anxious to rip some heads off over the theft of her grand successes in the valkyrie cores, and had only held off in "asking" about them because I was playing at being a face for the group. Had I let Harry take the lead, this would probably have already descended into a bloodbath as she educated the Sisters on not touching things that didn't belong to them.
"There were a series of items inside that building there" I pointed to the central pillar and the workshops therein. "That are currently missing. Specifically, six small white spheres. Do you happen to have them?"
Before Sister Vanalyn could answer, I felt the change, as the environment around us flexed slightly to accommodate the newly forming impeller fields. I quickly turned to Mio, hoping to head off a confrontation, only to be surprised by the blatant shit-eating grin on her face.
"Err...you alright Mio?"
The megawatt grin turned to me and lost none of it's intensity. "Oh, I'm fine. Just happy that the new cores work as intended, is all. Actually kind of shocked to see that all six of them were compatible, but I will chalk that up to the hand of the Omnissiah. Besides, those cores are in, if not ideal hands, then at least hands loyal to Humanity."
She raised a hand to my face in the universal sign for 'stop'. "No, don't bother trying to fight me on this. I made them, they are mine to distribute as I see fit, and I say that these Sisters of Battle are welcome to them as long as they serve Humanity and the Emperor." She turned back towards Sister Vanalyn, a menacing glare in her eyes. "In. That. Order. Do you understand?"
I stepped in before it got too awkward. "Calm down, Mio. I'm sure they will use them in the best manner possible. Anyway, one more question for you before I make my decision." I pause deliberately, for dramatic effect. Mio rolls her eyes at me at the theatrics, but I ignore her for now. "I, alongside my friends here, have been working to track down and eliminate the Genestealer cults on this planet. Are you willing to help us in, if not wiping them out completely, than at least thinning the herd?"
This was met with a frown. "Our mission is the recovery of the STC. the Xenos creatures can be dealt with by others who are more equipped for that task."
I felt Mio's grin. "Even when it's a chance for you to test out your new gear and doodads with the person who built them?" her grin somehow got larger as she laid down the carrot for this encounter. "It's kind of really good, you know."
I checked on Harry. Apparently he was struggling not to laugh at our antics, nor at the reactions of the sisters. I paid him no mind, instead focusing on the now clearly flummoxed mission before us. Those poor women obviously did not know what to expect.
Oddly, it was one of Sister Vanalyn's subordinates who responded. "You mean those white spheres were some kind of xenos technology!?"
Nope, cutting that off right now. "Not at all. Just something that Mio here whipped up in her spare time. I'm sure she wants to explain the details to you as soon as possible. Besides, those things tend to bond to their users. Trying to swap would just leave you without armor, judging from the feel right now...oh yeah, did I mention that those things like to assimilate technology?"
It was really fun messing with the Sisters, and I was getting my fun out of it as we overwhelmed them with the various capabilities of the Valkyrie Core, and the newly integrated frames that were once their master-crafted power armor.
Or at least I was, until an alert slammed into my vision. Judging from the look on Mio's face, she had gotten the same alert. I felt more than saw Rico stiffen as well from his perch on Harry's shoulder.
I asked the question first. "The fuck was that, and why could I feel it even in here?"
Rico had a look of worry on his face. "My long-range search probes are picking up a massive amount of energy coming from orbit. They are similar to the normal shipping traffic that we get, but instead of dozens, there are thousands. It doesn't make sense."
Harry suddenly had a concerned look on his face. "Can you Identify anything about the signals?"
Rico shook his head. "I don't know what to look for, and there's too many of them to begin with. I don't know where to start."
"Don't bother. I know what's happening."
Mio had spoken, finally, and as I turned to her what I saw shook me to my core.
Her face, normally so vibrant and full of life, was not only completely wooden but downright ashen.
I did not like seeing her like this. "Mio?"
Her response was even more flat. And, more importantly, it was tinged with something that I had not heard from her since we'd met.
Fear.
"The Mechanicus has come. And this world is forfeit."
Behold, the AdMech Play.
EVERYONE is in a Jam now.
An Editing note: I goofed in some earlier chapters and Misspelled Harry's full name. It's supposed to be Harrisyn, and I've been spelling it as Harrison. I apologise for this. The QQ version has been corrected to the best of my ability, but the FFN posts will remain unchaned due to the pain in the as it is to edit chapters.
Perks for this chapter:
-Weapon crafting (Devil May Cry) (200CP)
Alright, so you fancy yourself a weapons dealer, huh? Well now you know the ins and outs of every single tool made for killing that you get your crafty little hands on. Swords, handguns, axes, sniper rifles, spears, rocket launchers, it'll all come naturally to you, and you will be able to create these weapons or even improve them with your own custom designs. And to make it even a better deal, you know how to modify a weapon to have unlimited ammunition capability. So go nuts, buddy. You've earned it.
-Gushimera Laboratory (God Catching Alchemy Meister) (600CP)
This research facility used to belong to powerful mages before they were overrun by demons. Some of the knowledge was lost as the demons made their home there, but after a while they just went away and this precious fountain of knowledge came into your hands. The facility was geared towards the creation of golems, artificial Mana Spirits and even has notes about creating homunculus. It's still somewhat operational and full of information waiting to be discovered. It will become a warehouse attachment post-jump.
-Sparking Innovation | it is Written (The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild - TG) (600CP)
Sparking Innovation (200CP)
The fruits of hard work and study. By studying the arts of the ancient Sheikah, You can now create basic Ancient technology. The chief use of this is that you have the knowledge of creating the blue flame that acts as the energy source for much Sheikah Tech. This Blue Flame can be used to fuel various magitech as Sheikah devices are known to be, and in turn you are capable of creating simple tools such as cameras and recording devices with this level of knowledge. Nothing ground shaking on its own, but it's the base of even greater innovation.
It Is Written (400CP)
The use of mystical runes for enchanted effects is well known by those with a passing interest in the magical arts, but...the Sheikah were unique. They were able to create a language from runes that had conditional statements and effects. In short - the Sheikah could program with runes, thus allowing for programs to become spells. You have knowledge of this art as well - You are able to use Runes to code programs such as those used by the Sheikah Slate to perform its functions. This combined with Sparking Innovation would give you the groundwork to create your own variant of the Sheikah Slate with your own round of Runes...though magic doesn't make something simple - you'll need to create the code for these Slates yourself.