Chapter 68: Creeping in the Clouds

High in the air, surrounded by a flotilla of flying fortresses, there was one fortress in particular that contained the objective the zerg swarm needed. Within the several fortresses that only a few commanders lived in, there was a headquarters that needed to be infiltrated into. But getting into one of the commanders' headquarters was the most difficult part to Kay's plans, due to some complications that he had discovered.

By Kay's request, Corvurn had tried constructing armor that could negate the psionic frequency that the zerg communicated through, and in turn prevent the sky rings' ENO field sensor system to detect them. Sadly, it was later discovered that all organisms that have been attuned to the zerg hivemind became insane and feral once they were blocked from sending or receiving their psionic signals. But even then, some zerg tried to adapt past this psionic negating armor, via growing nerve bundles which grew between the armor plates that blocked their psionic signals. Sadly, such an adaptation had completely defeated the purpose of the psionic signal blocking armor. Despite Kay's wishes to bring a team of untraceable zerg into the flying fortress that one of the commanders lived in, he dawned upon the conclusion that this mission would have to be carried out by himself, and it meant that he had to block his own connection to the zerg's psionic hivemind.

The other zerg commanders, with Virid being temporarily excluded from the picture, were against such a tactic. But they were in agreement that it was a necessary handicap. To remain undetected by the Golden Star Empire's sensor network would enable a means to discreetly enter into the flying fortresses.

But Kragnon was able to provide further assistance, which had made sure that even if Kay was disconnected from the zerg hivemind once he began his infiltration mission, he wouldn't have to be completely alone while he sneaks within a flying fortress.

But Kay's biggest problems were the flying fortresses themselves.

The most abundant flying fortress were the escort fortresses. They were the fastest out of all the fortresses, and were among the first to have been constructed that were specifically designed to be the first response unit to a zerg infestation. They were shaped like a horizontally flattened canoe that had an upside-down vertically flattened canoe connected onto its top, and were five hundred meters long. Lining its bottom, sides, and top contained several turrets that had specialized anti-air and anti-ground turrets that frequently fought against infantry sized enemies. They were often used as either scouts that are fitted with remote-controlled drones, or were used as shields to protect other flying fortresses.

The carrier fortresses contained several combat and scout fliers that expanded the empire's control over a wide area. It was cross shaped, where each 'bar' had an upright and horizontally elongated triangular prism, and its thrusters were set upon its ventral side at the bottom of the hovering vessel, with the outermost side of the cross sections containing the flier delivery bays. Such fortresses were eight hundred meters wide and slowly spun as they hovered over the ground. The fliers were often piloted by drones as they were launched out of the delivery bays, equipped with either anti-air weapons or heavy bombs. They were often deployed on heavily infested zerg territories.

Destroyer fortresses were the primary brute force combat machines of the Golden Star Empire's flying fortresses, and the amount of destructive power they can deliver was astonishing and terrifying, compared to be second only to General Pallax's war machine. Pinnacle Superior's capabilities may be a remote controlled destroyer type flying fortress in its own description, but what the destroyer fortress had in firepower, they lacked in maneuverability and defenses. But even so, it had several high-powered cannons and missile systems, specifically designed to attack distant enemies kilometers away. They were an effective answer against ultralisks, brutalisks, leviathans, and any massive zerg organism that dared exist on the surface of Kiln. They were shaped like long, wide, yet blocky chevron triangles that had many of their heavier guns set on the forward edge of their bow. They measured to be a kilometer wide and long, and had several more artillery cannons that dotted the top of the fortresses that were installed onto the fortresses in later years. As more cannons and missile launchers were added to the destroyer fortress, more thrusters were installed underneath to keep it from crashing into the ground, but degraded their maneuverability further.

Due to recent advancements in gilanian empire technology, there were several other types of flying fortresses that had varying shapes, and many being quite extravagant in appearance. These custom fortresses were designed with elegant shapes or sometimes built to have metal statues that lined their hulls, thanks to the contractors. Their constructions was paid for by wealthy aristocrats that wanted their own private flying fortresses. Several of them were protected by their own flotillas, having paid an exorbitant amount of vouchers to have their own privately owned fortresses to be protected from any zerg threat that dared threatened their property. As a joke, the soldiers of Gollog's empire had mockingly named the aristocrats that owned their very own flying fortress as commodores. Sadly to their chagrin, the name had stuck. It was unclear who had came up with the joke title, but the title of 'commodore' was forevermore cemented into the minds of the gilanian empire citizenry as an aristocrat that owned his own custom flying fortress. It was rare for a custom fortress to have no weapon systems installed on it, since such weaponless fortresses often had the protection of other military fortresses that an aristocrat had hired, which were later nicknamed leisure fortresses.

The largest flying fortresses that existed were known as capitol fortresses. Significantly less maneuverable than a destroyer fortress, capitol fortresses were made to house an entire city population of gilanians. When it became apparent that living on the surface of Kiln was no longer a viable option for empire gilanians, Commander Faddoh had designed an enormous flying fortress that could house millions of gilanians. These capitol fortresses, or 'city ships', were not only made to house a population of gilanians, but were also engineered to create more flying fortresses, even creating duplicates of themselves. Such ships were three kilometers long, four hundred meters tall, and were shaped like an oblong disk that was pointed forward, bearing the resemblance of a huge and flattened egg. The capitol fortress structures could open up from its middle, which could enable onlookers to look at its insides and see what kind of fortress its workers are currently building. Capitol fortresses are capable of building other capitol fortresses, but can only do so in segments, which could take a great deal of resources and plenty of time. Their size often made them prime targets for the zerg, though they were often defended by carrier fortresses and destroyer fortresses. Oftentimes, there are only a handful of capitol fortresses in the air at once, since they are destroyed as often as they are made. But there was two in particular that the two of Gollog's commanders have taken residency in.

And in a vote between choosing Kralluf or Ralkan, Othafurn and Corvurn had chosen Kralluf's headquarters would be the primary objective for Kay's infiltration mission.

As the day turned into dawn, the sky became darker to reveal the several thin lines of light that was high above the ground, signifying the presence of the sky rings. But there was also a fleet of flying fortresses that were hovering quite high above the ground, and they followed after the ground deployments that the Kiln Keepers fielded. There were several types of these fortresses, and each type were often used in a specific role that helped protect the entire flotilla, or struck down any zerg that they encountered. There were several that were hovering toward Red Desert, and they were slowly getting near the crater that had replaced Red Mountain and the underground village that no longer existed. The zerg were reported to be reemerging in that area, while the Kiln Keepers were sent to eliminate the infestation and contain the territory that was once the red danger zone.

In one particular capitol fortress, near a place that was constructed to be used as storage space, a foreman was bored out of his mind as he transported eight crates that were made from sandmold. "Humph." He currently wore sterile white clothes, with a hardhat which had an insignia that signified him as the foreman.

He was currently operating an electric cargo transport platform with two other storage workers, also wearing white attire and hardhats without the foreman's insignia, and they too were delivering several crates through a long passageway. The crates had their addresses labeled, which contained instructions detailing that they were to be delivered specifically to Commander Kralluf's storage area, inside of his capitol fortress. One of the workers that worked under him, on the other hand, was both inexperienced and was having anxiety with his task. "I never would have thought I'd be delivering to a Golden Star fortress. I mean... What if they shoot us?"

The foreman shook his head. "Yanvy."

The worker looked up. "What?"

"Shut up." The foreman growled.

Yanvy adopted a crestfallen look, while the other worker patted Yanvy's back. "This is his first time delivering something into a militarized fortress, boss. Don't you have any words of encouragement to help Yanvy out?"

The foreman sighed. "Oh yeah, Pelkas? Here's a few just for Yanvy then. Don't give them a reason to shoot you. Gods-damn motherfucking antsy little sewer vaph."

Yanvy slouched depressingly while Pelkas tried to give comfort to his coworker. Apparently, it wasn't easy mailing crates to the locations they were to be delivered to. Especially so if such cargo had to be delivered to incredibly dangerous people. And in the span of twenty years of fighting against the zerg, tensions was at an all time high, just as morale was at an all time low. It didn't matter that they were in the relative safety of a flotilla in the sky, since they knew that there have been a few occasions where even entire fleets of flying fortresses were hunted and destroyed by the zerg menace. Such was the casualties of life that the Golden Star Empire military forces had accepted a long time ago.

A gated military checkpoint stood between the foreman and the storage area he was delivering the crates to, and it was diligently guarded by four guards that wore the Torus Chain Division uniforms. One was picking his nose as two others seemed to be invested in reading a book at a table that was strewn with varying objects and devices on it. There was one guard that seemed to be in charge of the checkpoint, and he signaled the foreman to roll his electric platform to a stop. "Evening. Where's this being taken to?"

The foreman tipped his hardhat to the officer. "To deep storage."

The guard in charge nodded. "Aight." He turned around toward one of the other guards. "Hey Gaka! Get the bar-code scanner!"

The guard picking his nose stopped. "Why do I always have to be the one to scan things?" He whined.

"Because you're a private, and I'm a corporal, and I ordered you to get the scanner because you know how to work it. Get it now before I file a complaint." The corporal hissed.

The private named Gaka rolled his eyes and went to the table that two other guards were reading their books on. He fetched a device from the table and walked toward the crates, and then used the device he had picked up to read the crates' bar-codes. After inspecting his bar-code scanner device, his eyes narrowed into an inquisitive expression. "... That's odd."

The corporal sighed as he walked towards Gaka. "What is it? Wrong address?"

"No, the address is correct." Gaka reported. "But it's the sender that's got my attention. Do we know someone by the name of Farmer Nongark?"

The corporal shared in Private Gaka's confusion. "A farmer? Why would a farmer ever mail a bunch of crates to us?" He said as he approached the crates and inspected them closely. The main composition of the crates consisted of sandmold, a fairly common material that is crafted from silty sand that was drenched with strong resins, which is also used in creating a cheap material for building construction. When someone from within the empire decides to send someone a crate of whatever things they needed, the crate was almost always made of metal, consistent of the division that sent the crate. If, for example, a citizen from within the empire, or an officer within the Torus Chain Division, wanted to deliver something to someone, the packaging they would mail would be colored dull gray with small accents of bright yellow. The thought of a surface dwelling gilanian delivering something to a capitol fortress was quite unusual, and the corporal knew that this wasn't standard procedure. "Gaka, open the crates."

Gaka sighed. "Can you have Goffot and Wabam help me? You and I know that they love heavy lifting."

The corporal nodded his head and hissed. "Get started opening one of the crates then." He then turned to the book-reading guards. "Goffot! Wabam! We're inspecting the crates, so get your books bookmarked and assist us!"

The two guards sighed as they put their books down and came to the crates to inspect them. Once several had been opened, what they had found surprised them. Gaka was the first to voice his opinion. "Uh... Most of the stuff inside these crates are... powdered egg packets, dehydrated fruit, bagged bugmeal, and smoked vaph meat strips."

The corporal dug through one of the crates to inspect the cargo. He sneered when he looked at one item in particular. "... What kind of ass sends only one can of mushroom broth? Everything else in these crates are just... standard low-grade military rations!"

The foreman shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea sir. I would just assume the food created from your manifestation altars doesn't really taste very good, even if everyone assumes otherwise."

The corporal pointed the can of mushroom broth at the foreman. "Shut up, you. I'd rather eat wet clay mixed with spices and artificial flavorings, instead of consuming this gross bilge." He looked down at the crates with a leery glare and thought about how to deal with this most current nuisance. "... This is very irregular. ...But I'm not gonna go through the tons of bureaucratic paperwork needed to sort out whatever possible infraction this causes. That kind of job is for the higher ups."

"You mean..." Gaka sighed. "Close these crates and let the deliverers through?"

The corporal nodded, pocketing the can of mushroom broth into his uniform. "Yes. In this day and age, food is a much better bribing substitute than any amount of vouchers or water can accomplish. Get these crates closed up and carted through. And please put them as far away from the door as you can? I'm not particularly fond of the idea of eating any kind of vaph meat sometime soon."

The foreman nodded. "Sure can. I'm not too fond of vaph meat either."

Once the crates were closed shut and placed back on the electric cargo transport platform, the gated checkpoint opened up and allowed the delivery workers to continue on their journey. Several minutes later, the same delivery workers came back to the checkpoint and left without making another incident. After that, everything went back to normal for a brief moment.

The storage area had low lighting throughout its interior. It was abundant, but it was only enough to guide anyone within the chamber to be redirected to the entrance that lead into this room. Several crates and boxes were stacked high, and were stacked in a grid-like pattern to maximize on storage space, ensuring that items of a similar nature were neatly categorized for later inspection and sorting.

One of such crates rumbled, slightly breaking the silence within the capitol fortress' storage area. After a couple seconds of rustling and clittering, one of the sandmold crates was torn open from the inside to reveal a humanoid figure, clad in misshapen grey armor and sporting bone wings with metal blades on every spiked tip. As this dark figure rose from the opening in the crate, he slowly looked around his new surroundings to find himself devoid of any form of company.

After a cautious scan of his current environment, he then donned an info-lens onto his partially covered face and activated them. After waiting a few seconds for the device to come to life, he then began to make a call. Once a communication channel was formed, he sighed in silence and spoke in whispers. "I'm in."

[Testing, testing, one two.] Kragnon's noble accented voice chimed in. [Can you hear me alright?]

The infiltrator nodded. "Yeah. One of the guards inspected one of the crates I was in, and I was a little worried at first. Luckily for me, they didn't suspect that one of the crates had a false bottom at all."

[Well, the important thing to take note of your infiltration mission is the fact that you have made it in without being noticed yet.] Kragnon said in relief.

"What about you? When you gave me this info-lens, you said to contact you when I'm inside and by myself in the target capitol fortress. Aren't you worried about being tracked?"

[They can't track you or me through our conversations at the moment. We can even have up to a hundred calls between us, and it wouldn't make a difference. Using an encrypted pattern released in micro-second bursts of shadow frequencies, we can have each call last as long as a couple hours. Trust me, they won't have enough time to detect or decrypt our communication signals once we're done here.]

"Uh huh. And what did you say to your wife before you came on board with this mission?"

[I didn't. I asked a favor from Johnny, and he had a doppelganger assume my place. I'm just hoping that my lookalike doesn't get any bright ideas and haves sex with her.]

The infiltrator rolled his eyes. "I'd rather doubt that. Is your position secure, at least?"

[Yes. I am currently underground, and using several incognito proxies with our communication link. Even if I hack into the capitol fortress' computer systems to help ease you in your infiltration efforts on this mission, I will be quite secure and quite anonymous.]

[This is irksome.] A worried female voice said in a gentle thrumming tone. [To communicate to you in this fashion is... somewhat unnerving.]

Kragnon sighed. [Oh. And uh... Othafurn and Corvurn are here as well.]

[Command organism Kay.] Corvurn said, in his usual low bassy growl. [Report current condition often. Organism Kragnon will assist in infiltration mission.]

[Gah~!] Kragnon yelled. [Could you not be that close to me?!]

[Apologies. Will maintain distance from personal boundaries. However, Kay's mission requires concentration. You will assist.]

"Better listen to him, Kragnon." Kay intoned. "He's not the kind of guy to use pronouns, and this is the first time I think I ever heard them coming from his mouth. This must be serious for him."

[Uh... Right.] Kragnon said and sighed. [Kay, you seem to be on... Level forty five, in the subsection twelve-eleven storage area. I think this is where they put junk mail before everything gets sorted for incineration.]

"Uh..." Kay replied, feeling some concern for himself.

[Don't worry. You're still safe.] Kragnon added. [They still have to sort through everything before incinerating it all. I believe it's part of their standard procedure. Anyway, here's an addendum to your current mission. Since the surveillance staff never needed to survey the storage area in a fortified flying fortress before, you should be safe from being discovered. But that doesn't mean you cannot be detected by them if you are not careful. When you enter into a room that is being watched by a camera, your info-lense will warn you if you entered into its field of awareness. You'll have only a few seconds before the surveillance staff detects you and raises an alarm. On the other hand, it will take me about five seconds to hack into the cameras near your location to fool them. Even then, I will need to undo the hack in order to prevent the surveillance staff from figuring out that there is a mole in their surveillance system. I'm guessing that I can only use about... sixty seconds of playback footage before they start becoming aware of my intrusion. But if you get caught, I cannot assist you any further, else I would risk my involvement in your infiltration.]

Kay nodded. "Well that takes care of the cameras, but what about any of the other kinds of security systems? Do I have to worry about pressure plates on the floors, and doors that require codes?"

[That shouldn't be a problem for me.] Kragnon replied. [But I would prefer that you root around for any clues that gives any information and details to the passwords for the door codes. And as for any pressure plates that you might come across... Uh... Step lightly? To be honest, I don't even know if there are any on this flying fortress.] Kragnon replied.

Kay stood up and shrugged his shoulders as he proceeded forward in the dim light inside the cargo hold. "Wonderful advice. Keep it up." Kay replied sarcastically.

[But there are bio-metric scanners between different checkpoints in the civilian and military sections. I advise you to not pass through any one of those.] Kragnon added.

[I will also keep you informed.] Othafurn said, adding her say into the conversation. [Despite the empire's persistence in rooting out the undercover changelisks in their ranks, there are a few still hidden in the empire's command structure. They will help ensure your anonymity.]

"How will I know if they are one of us?" Kay asked.

[You won't. Assume that everyone inside of the flying fortress is a gilanian belonging to Gollog's empire. If it means killing one of our own for you to remain undetected, then it will be a necessary sacrifice.]

Kay sighed as he continued forward. "Kay, good to know. Here goes nothing." His infiltration mission had begun. "Wish me luck."

A/N: My birthday is coming in a few days. :U