Surprise! Y'all probably thought this fic was dead. Because it is lol. I wrote this chapter ages ago and just never posted it for some reason. I'm willing to bet half the people currently reading this have no idea what this is even referring to. Nevertheless, here it is.

Ever felt like you can never run away from something? As though it's always there, a part of your life that just won't stay gone? You think you can get a moment's grace, but it pops up again, and you wonder how it ever could have been any other way.

If so, then you'd understand how Rhys was feeling right about now.

'Are you saying, what I think you're saying?' The Vault Hunter asked the Anomaly wearily, standing up to face the Anomaly.

'This burial ground…it's an Eridian Tomb,' Matt confirmed.

'Beneath the biggest city of the Crimson Raiders?' Rhys criticised perplexedly. Matt nodded with equal surprise. 'Did that other Tomb you went to have booby-traps?'

'I didn't come across any, no. That was probably because it recognised me and Amelia as envoys of the Infinite.'

'OK, I'm just gonna pretend I understand that,' the Corporate excused awkwardly.

'That's generally how it works, yeah,' the Vault Hunter confessed gauchely, sticking his hands in his pockets and resuming his walk down the tunnel. Reluctantly, Rhys trailed after him.

'So how come no one knew this whole place was made by the Eridians?' He questioned.

'Tombs are different from Vaults. They're meant to show off the Eridian legacy, while Vaults are meant to be prisons. The Vaults don't exactly show everything about the Eridians, so they probably didn't recognise the symbols and memorials in here.'

'Speaking of which…' Rhys said, nodding intriguingly towards a wall beside Matt.

Curious, the Anomaly followed his glance and turned around, noticing the strange symbols embedded into the wall. They swirled and rounded, somewhat artistically, forming what looked somewhat shorthand writing.

'Some Eridian symbols…' He identified, leaning into get a closer look.

'Can you read it?'

'No. I don't speak Eridian.'

'But…you spent four centuries in the Infinite! Didn't you think to learn their language?'

'I didn't have a choice what I did in the Infinite. I wasn't there to learn the Eridians' culture, I was there to learn how to survive.' He traced his fingers along the indents of the Eridian symbols. 'However, I did learn how their' – he dragged his hands across it, and it started to glow – 'technology works!' Inexplicably, the symbols brightened, and glowed a bright violet.

Other symbols on the walls ahead, previously hidden in the darkness, also lit up with the same violet colour. The entire Eridian Tomb came to life right before their lives.

'Woah,' Rhys awed helplessly.

'Not just "woah",' the Anomaly told him. 'More importantly, it lit the way. Much easier to avoid traps when you can see more than three feet in front of you.'

'There's bound to be more than just traps around here, though,' the Corporate pointed out.

'Much easier to spot, though,' the Anomaly said, resuming his walk down to the corridor. 'I'm hoping there's something at the centre of this Tomb.'

Rhys supposed there was no point in disputing that, although he was just happy he could see where he was going. There didn't seem to be any more traps as they moved, but the Corporate knew that the point of traps was that you weren't supposed to see them.

He looked at Matt.

The Anomaly was ever a mystery to him. He seemed to know what he was doing, yet sometimes he'd just act bone-dead stupid. A few years ago, Rhys was just some Hyperion lackey who thought the weirdest thing out there were the Vaults, simply because they held monsters in them. Now, Matt arrives, someone Gaige only mentioned sparingly, and he goes on about "the Infinite" and "Pandimensional Interspatial Conduits".

It hadn't been long since they first met, and already the Vault Hunter was something else. Whether that was a good thing or not, Rhys was honestly still undecided about.

They suddenly took a harsh left that took the Corporate out of his thoughts for a moment. His widened at the corridor. There were doors on all sides, lit down them until they reached a wall and the corridor changed direction. Of course, the Vault Hunters weren't surprised that this Tomb was a maze.

'Any one of these could be a false passageway,' Matt identified. 'Or a another trap door.'

'Or some other trap,' Rhys grumbled, searching through the doors for any possible traps. 'How do you even know we're going the right way?'

'There's something in this Tomb that's drawing me towards the centre,' Matt felt. 'Definitely something Eridian. Considering only I can feel it, it must be Siren-related. It's faint, but it's clear enough for me to follow by instinct.'

Rhys gave him a look of pure scepticism, but it started to make sense. Somewhat. It explained why Matt was so careless and didn't notice any traps placed, although neither did the Corporate.

Jeez, he thought, if I can hear someone say that they can sniff out a trace because they have Siren instincts, then my perspective on the world really HAS changed.

He stopped his foot when he noticed a silvery glint on the ground in one of the hallways. Upon closer inspection, it was a string running from one end of the wall to the other.

'Er…Matt, I found another one,' the Corporate told him. The Anomaly turned to him, and inspected the piece of string. He took out his Swiss army knife and began wearing away at it. Rhys instinctively grabbed his arm. 'Are you insane?! We don't even know what the trap is!'

'Only one way to find out,' the Anomaly replied with a smirk. Before Rhys could stop him, the Vault Hunter broke free of his grasp and cut the rope.

The Corporate quickly closed his eyes, expecting death to be swift.

He heard the sound of whizzing, then nothing. Slowly but surely, he pried open his eyes to see what had happened. Rhys was met with the same stony yellow wall, perhaps a metre away from his initial standing position, and very much still arms were being held.

Cautiously, the Vault Hunter looked to his left, having finally taken notice of a figure in his peripheral vision, and saw Matt holding onto him. His eyes were glowing gold momentarily, before they faded back to its static gilded pigment. There were small remainders of arcs of crimson and black lightning on the sides of his arms. He visibly looked very tired from using his Chronokinesis for even a second.

This Tomb really IS draining him.

'Oh, uh, thanks,' Rhys awkwardly acknowledged, the Anomaly nodded. He looked around to see what the trap was, and noticed a dark burnt mark on the wall behind them. Fresh smoke rose out of it.

'It was a beam of blue Infinite energy,' Matt elucidated, noticing the Vault Hunter's confused expression. 'It's a destructive form. Luckily, it was only a small pulse.'

'What would've happen if I was hit with it?'

'You, uh…you probably would have disintegrated,' the Anomaly informed him reluctantly. If Rhys has something in his mouth, he would've spittaked then and there.

'What?!' He yelled in disbelief, causing Matt to lean back from him to deal with the sound. 'How dangerous is this place?'

'More dangerous than Athena thought. You didn't think the Eridians would just…allow intruders to get to what their keeping in it, did you?'

Rhys gave a dumb look.

'Of course not.'

'Anyway, we need to find the right door,' the Anomaly reminded him. He nodded. Matt suddenly had a thought. 'Maybe we can speed this up. Do you have anything Eridian on you?'

'Er, I think I have a relic.' The Corporate fumbled through his pockets, while the Anomaly tapped his foot somewhat impatiently. Ultimately, he produced a corrosive Bone of the Ancients. It was stony and spikey, almost stabbing Matt as he took it out of Rhys's hand.

'Now, I learnt a thing or two about applications of my Chronokinetic lightning,' the Vault Hunter enlightened him, charging up his black lightning, and black lightning only. 'Certain sources of Infinite energy are attracted to each other. And all Eridian technology absorbs Infinite energy in some way. So…I think I can use this relic to make beacon by using the Infinite energy already trapped inside this relic, and my own…' Rhys watched as the relic began to glow an eerie cyan. '…I think I got it…!' He was interrupted by some invisible force pulling him forward, before struggling to pull it back.

'So it's leading us to the Tomb centre?' The Commando surmised.

'Yep…!' The Anomaly confirmed, still trying to hold it back. He slowly eased his control over it, and began moving with the relic.

'Right then, I guess we're moving on then,' Rhys muttered under his breath, pursuing once again after his ally.

Matt followed the relic with haste, having to stop a few times to regain control of it. He was glad he had learned to do this in the Infinite, due to its practicality. If the Anomaly had only learnt about his Chronokinesis, rather than his electrokinesis, he'd be slightly annoyed and, for all intents and purposes, left with no way out of Sub-Level Fifteen. His fourth stage of Chronokinesis was the biggest bust out of all the things he'd learnt. The Enlightener went into detail about it, saying it unlocked further manipulations of time beyond slowing, only for Matt to be told that he couldn't even use it, because it was far too dangerous. It was especially volatile to use when one considered that Matt had only recently (kinda) got the hang of stopping time.

The Anomaly stepped out of the way of a nearby pressure plate. He noticed the distinct, loose design of the panel and pointed at for Rhys to notice. Fortunately, the Corporate noticed right before he placed a foot on the plate, and jerked away from it. He mumbled indistinct curses about the Eridian Tomb.

Matt picked up his pace to keep up with the Eridian relic he had empowered. Feeling it slipping out of his hand, he rectified his grip on it. It started to glow brighter the closer he got to the centre of the Tomb, brightening up the still quite dark passageway with distinct purple light. Rhys seemed happier that he now could see (moderately) better.

The centre has to be around here somewhere, Matt groaned, keeping an eye out for some direction.

He was answered when he and Rhys both hit something flat on the face. They stumbled back, and looked to see what they hit – absolutely nothing. Before them, as quotidian as Eridian constructions could be, was a simple corridor, the same one they had been walking down before. Both of them looked confusedly at each other. Matt stepped out to inspect it, pressing against the air with his right index finger.

To their surprise, the air rippled, causing undulating waves to cascade out from his finger. With a more tests, Matt could see it was completely physical. The Anomaly sighed.

'Invisible Infinite energy,' he identified, turning to Rhys. 'It's used to create physical barriers.'

'Like the Artefact,' the Corporate recognised, to which the Anomaly recognised.

'Exactly – which means it's impregnable,' the Anomaly informed him disgruntledly, folding his arms in frustration. Rhys frowned.

'Didn't you get past the barrier around the Artefact?' The Vault Hunter recollected him saying.

'Yeah, but only with the help of my sister,' Matt responded, much to his ally's confusion. 'You see, Infinite energy isn't in one sole state. There are different types, which react with each other in various ways. So, if you get Infinite energies that are opposite –'

'You can cancel them out,' Rhys finished, figuring it out quickly. 'Your lightning can do that?'

'No. My lightning lies on the same end of the Infinity Spectrum, so it just makes it stronger. If I had Amelia, she could use her powers to convert it into Gold energy to cancel it out.'

'Could you use the relic to convert energy types?' The Corporate wondered.

'What? No, of course I –' He stopped himself, having had a sudden thought. 'Oh, Rhys, you're a genius.'

'Er, thanks? I guess?' Rhys responded confoundedly. Matt leant down and activated his Chronokinetic lightning, siphoning it off onto the floor. The energy flowed through the cracks in the ground with a distinct black hue.

'Hmm…this might actually work,' the Anomaly mused aloud.

'You gonna tell me what you're doing?' His fellow Vault Hunter enquired bemusedly.

'I still can't produce my red lightning, but my black lightning is much more stable anyway.' Rhys frowned.

'That doesn't answer my question at all.'

'Infinite energy has a wavelength just like electromagnetic waves. And over vast distances, electromagnetic waves can redshift, like the Doppler effect, altering their wavelength and stretching it out. The same principle applies to Infinite energy, except it's not redshift, since red energy is actually on the shorter end. Anyway, using this relic to bolster my lightning speed, I can replicate the effect by circling this tomb trillions of times.'

'Wait,' the Corporate halted, as he processed this idea. 'In order to cause redshift across such a relatively short distance, you'd need your lightning to travel faster than light.'

To this, the Anomaly merely smirked.

'Didn't I mention that Infinite energy has a tendency to break the laws of physics?'

Rhys was left to stare in awe as surges of Infinite energy began pulsing throughout the Tomb, going and faster and faster. It was hard to notice at first, but the colour of the energy was changing, slowly brightening from an inescapable black, to a deep crimson, to a more welcoming orange. He inspected it as it changed, however it kept eventually began reverberating too fast for Rhys to distinguish, however, when he looked towards Matt, he seemed to have no problem following the energy and could apparently still see it. The Corporate supposed that his time in the Infinite had made him more in tune with Infinite energy.

There was a flash of orange light, and Rhys noticed cracks of orange energy flowing through the relic. He was about to warn Matt, but it was too late. The relic began leaking orange light, striking the surroundings with ferocity. It struck Matt, who winced in pain as they whipped his body and left burns, but he forced himself to remain standing.

After a little while, the Anomaly slowed the energy back down again, and Rhys could now see it was a bright gold colour. He watched as his fellow Vault Hunter directed it at the barrier in torrents of lightning. As soon as it made contact, there was a small shockwave, although knocking Rhys off his feet. The Anomaly nearly dropped to the ground in pain, immediately clutching the hand that was holding the relic. As the relic dropped to the ground, seemingly inactive, he inspected his palm to find numerous burns over his already very calloused hand. He looked up towards the passageway.

It looked completely different. Instead of the original mossy stone walls, they were a deep purple-black in colour and the torches on the walls burned a strangely cold blue, rather than a hot blue or its usual erubescence.

Tentatively, Matt moved his hand towards where the barrier had been, expecting some kind of feedback. There was not. His hand moved straight past where the forcefield had been placed, eliciting the Anomaly to take a step through.

When his foot landed on the other side, Matt smiled. The barrier was now open.

Matt and Rhys trudged carefully, albeit reluctantly, through this new domain they had found. The hallways were different, looking much more like the design of the walls of Eleseer that Athena had described, and they narrowed inwards at the top.

Rhys shivered. This business suit wasn't doing well for keeping him warm.

The flames on the walls were strangely cold. They sucked away the heat from the surroundings, and dissipated as icy breaths instead. The only bonus they really provided was that they wouldn't be able to see without them, since the walls were so dark.

'You know, I'm starting to wish you hadn't destroyed that relic.' Matt gave him an unsympathetic look.

'If I hadn't, we'd be stuck here.'

'Stuck and warm,' the Corporate complained. 'How are these torches cold anyway?'

'They're endothermic,' the Anomaly responded. 'Eridian science.'

'What? Those flames are clearly burning,' Rhys protested.

'Yeah, they're burning,' Matt agreed. 'Burning cold.'

'That doesn't make sense.'

'Not if you're an Eridian.'

'But what's the point of torches that burn cold?' Rhys wondered.

'Eridians don't need to keep warm. The flame is meant to signify that we're at a highly classified region of the Tomb.'

'How do you know that?' He enquired in sheer bewilderment, still shivering.

'I didn't; that was a clever lie to shut you up,' Matt revealed honestly.

'Classy.'

'Look, we're not far from the entombment zone. Having that relic wouldn't speed us up much anyway.'

Rhys was about to protest, but they took a corner and they immediately noticed the door at the far end. Similar to the other tomb Matt had visited, circular in shape with numerous rings making a kind of puzzle over it. However, it had no input panel like the last one, which Amelia had used to open it. It was golden in shape, however it had long since lost its ancient shine. In the very centre, a ruby lay sealed into it, and two hemispheres of diamond sat protruding from the entrance equidistant from the ruby.

'I'm guessing that's the entrance to whatever it is that relic was attracted to,' the Corporate surmised, to which Matt nodded. 'How do we open it?'

'Not entirely sure,' he answered sincerely. 'The last door like this needed authorisation, but there's no panel to provide it. Instead, there are those two bulbs.'

'You think they're the access route?' Rhys figured out. 'Are you sure that'll work?'

'You got any other ideas?' The Anomaly countered, inspecting the two diamond hemispheres. Rhys opted not to argue. 'Looks like we both need to press against it at the same time.'

The Corporate nodded reluctantly, and stepped forward to stand parallel with the Anomaly. Matt nodded to him, and he placed his hand one of the diamonds, in unison with the Anomaly. As soon as their hands made contact, the edges between the rings began glowing a distinct purple, eventually reaching the central ruby, which itself lit up blood red.

Slowly, the door slid down into the ground and disappeared, revealing a new chamber. It was dark at first, until they stepped inwards and the blue torches lit within. It displayed them a room similar to the burial room in the previous tomb, where Matt and Amelia had found the Cube. As such, there was a sarcophagus in the centre of the room, however this one was intentionally sealed over, and could not be opened. The Anomaly presumed there was nothing of worth inside anyway.

The sarcophagus wasn't the main focus anyway.

In the very centre of the room was a strange spire. It sat on odd metallic foundations, with cracks of purple power flowing through it, before transitioning to the actual spire, narrowing in to a thin point. Both Matt and Rhys frowned at it, moving in closer to get a better look at it. The Anomaly kneeled down and tried to figure out what it was exactly.

'Any ideas?' Rhys wondered, as the Anomaly inspected every inch of it using his hands and eyes. Matt frowned again.

'No,' he responded honestly. 'But I've studied Eridian technology for centuries, so trust me when I say this looks important.'

'Though you don't know what it is?'

'Exactly. That's why it concerns me.'

Yet you still can't figure out what the point of cold flames is… Rhys recalled, trying not to chuckle too much at it.

Brusquely, the sections of the spire lit up orange, one by one until they reached the top.

'What have you done?!' The Corporate demanded wearily.

'Me? I haven't done anything!' Matt protested, backing away from the spire. His eyes wandered all over the strange device, but there wasn't any clue as to what it was. Then he recalled the Cube.

Orange energy…that's Dispersal, so this must be some kind of long-range spatial relocation just like the Cube, he speculated. Another passageway for the Eridians, perhaps?

'I don't think it's dangerous,' the Anomaly reassured Rhys.

'You don't even know what it is!'

'That's orange Infinite energy. It's used for teleportation and long-range holographic communication. There doesn't seem to be any adscititious functions that could be dangerous.'

'So it works like the Cube?' The Corporate recollected, to which Matt nodded in surprise. 'What? I remember what you said about the Panda-spend-sial…?'

'Pandimensional Interspatial Conduit.'

'Whatever,' sighed Rhys. 'I'm guessing this is the Eridian artefact that the relic was attracted to?'

'Yeah, seems like it,' the Vault Hunter concurred, getting back up on his feet. 'There's no deactivating it, so I guess we could just leave.'

'"Just leave"?! I don't see an exit!' The Corporate pointed out. Matt smirked, and walked over to the hermetically sealed sarcophagus.

'This coffin…why is it sealed?'

'Oh I dunno…because there's a body inside and they wanted to preserve it?!'

'There aren't any statues in this tomb; nothing to indicate who, which Eridian, is lying in this sarcophagus,' he pointed out quite confidently. 'The other tomb had statues in excess. Everything told me that there was an Eridian in there, so I opened the coffin and bam! There it was. I'm not getting the same feeling.'

'I don't understand. What are you getting at?'

Matt pressed his index fingertip on the coffin in a gesturing fashion.

'This isn't a coffin. It's something else.'

The Anomaly generated his black lightning, still unable to produce more than a flicker of red. The sarcophagus made a shunting sound, indicative of air rushing in and out of it. The gaps where the pieces of the coffin fitted together split apart, raising up and opening. Just like the previous Tomb's casket, it split apart to reveal the contents. Rhys ran over to see what was inside it. He frowned.

It was empty. Nothing inside.

'I…I don't get it.'

'Hmm…' Matt wondered aloud. 'There's gotta be something.'

'Well, I'm looking, and I can't see anything.'

'No,' the Anomaly disagreed, leaning into the sarcophagus. 'The more you look…the less you' – he touched the bottom of the coffin – 'see!'

To both of their surprise, there was no bottom to it. It rippled upon the Vault Hunter's touch, allowing him to lower his arm into it, going right through the so-called coffin.

'It's a mirage…!' The Corporate deduced in shock.

'Yep. Three guesses where it leads,' his ally prompted him with a smile.

'Somewhere out here, I hope.'

With a more distinct smirk, Matt intrepidly bantered, 'Well, there's only one way to find out.' The Anomaly carefully lifted his foot onto the rim of the coffin, raising himself up over it.

'Are you insane? You don't know where that leads!' He protested, trying to stop him from making such a brazen move.

'I know.' Matt took out a large pin and held it over the sarcophagus. He dropped in, and it fell through the intangible bottom. It only took a second or two before they heard it drop. 'Whatever's down there, it's definitely not deep down.'

'That was…actually pretty smart,' Rhys admitted somewhat shamefully. Matt nodded respectfully to that, and pointed to the other side of the sarcophagus.

'We'll do it at the same time,' the Vault Hunter resolved completely. Rhys chose not to dispute the idea and climbed up the side of the coffin opposite to his anomalous ally.

Matt held up three fingers up to him, mouthing "three", then "two" as a finger fell, and finally "one" until only the last finger remained. Ultimately, the last finger dropped, and the two fell into the mysterious portal on cue, through the mirage. Their feet were sucked in through the coffin, disturbing the mirage and causing it to disappear. For a second, there was nothing but black, but ultimately, they arrived at a destination.

They both landed face-down on the hard stone ground, causing flares of pain to shoot through both of the Vault Hunters' respective bodies. They both groaned as they lifted themselves to their feet to take in their new surroundings.

Finally, they were outside of the Eridian Tomb. It was almost a mirror image to the previous entrance, although it was slightly different in shape. There was an elevator at the end, whose doors were closed but the light at the top indicated it was at on the same level anyway. On the ground sat numerous rocks, uneven and irregularly placed, so much so that both the Corporate and the Anomaly stumbled over them and nearly fell as they rose their feet and wiped the ash of themselves.

'You took your time.'

Immediately and brusquely alert, Matt and Rhys instinctively turned to the source of the voice.

Athena stood by the elevator, at the far end of the Tomb's exit, with her arms folded.

'We, uh, lost track of time,' Rhys confessed, not having noticed the hour pass him by.

'I'm just glad you got through it at all,' the Gladiator bluntly commented. 'Did you two sort out your differences, then?'

The two exchanged gazes of respect yet slight vexation over the fatiguing situation they had been placed in.

'I would like to think so,' Matt said confidently enough. Rhys nodded, now able to at least look at the Anomaly without feeling searing contempt.

'Good. Because we've been ordered back to Sanctuary to answer a distress call.'

'Distress call? From who?' The Corporate enquired even before the Anomaly could. Athena lifted herself off of the wall, rising to her complete five-foot-seven height.

'Sasha.'

He looked out onto the endless depths of space, as it stared right back at him. It was a pleasant enough sight, if it could even be considered that. After all, there wasn't much to see. Stars, mainly. Stars, and the Dawnbreaker. It was all too natural, and there was no use preserving much of it. If he wanted to make himself known once again, it would be better to burn it all to the ground.

'Sir?'

Director Samael McCain, the CEO of the Gemini Corporation and apparent part-time astronomer, turned away from the window to see who was addressing him. He sighed.

'Yes, Foley?' He reluctantly asked.

'Our patient primary is having some…complications. Miss Therese requested that I summon your assistance,' Captain Foley explained.

'What? She's an expert psychiatrist and rampant experimenter, she doesn't need my help.'

Foley thought for a moment. His commanding officer was correct. Therese had no issue with placing soldiers in line, she didn't before her untimely…whatever it was that McCain had never explained…and she certainly wouldn't now. If anything, she should've felt more cohesive and collected than other, since now she was together again. A few shots would solve any problem, anyway.

'Well, you see, sir, I'm bound to follow her orders.'

'I think she was just trying to get rid of you, Foley,' Samael deduced. 'She's like that.' He turned to look out the window again. 'How long until it's ready?'

'Sir?' Foley enquired, confused by the question. Samael turned to face the Dawnbreaker, pointing towards it.

'How long until it's ready?'

'Well, it shouldn't be too long, a day at the most, especially now that new fuel reserves have materialised,' the captain responded. 'But with the Leviathan in Hibernation Mode, it's going to be a lot less effective.'

'The ship stays in hibernation,' McCain ordered. 'We can't afford to be detected just yet. Not while we have the element of surprise.'

'The engines are prepared to enter phaseshift at any time, sir.'

'What about warpshift?'

'That would consume a titanic amount of power, sir, so it would be more effective to enter phaseshift. Though it will take longer to arrive at the desired destination, it also means we will have enough power to use the Quantum-X specialised weapons system.'

Samael bounded over to Foley, leaning into him at a height that was visibly a few inches taller than the captain. He frowned in fury at him.

'This ship has a Kaster-76 Mark-IX warp-drive. A mark nine! You're telling me you don't think I accounted for energy consumption when commissioning this colossal ship?!'

'N-no, sir, certainly not, sir,' Foley stammered.

'I am well aware that warpshift can overcharge the engines, however given what we can achieve with it, I would find it better to use them; don't you think?' Director McCain asked him, gripping him unwelcomingly. Foley nodded his head in fear. 'Alright, good. Now, why don't you do your boss a favour, and go down to the engines room and tell them to ready the warp-drive, hmm?'

'Y-yes, sir,' Foley agreed, practically running away when Samael finally released him from his grip.

McCain watched him as he left, before allowing his eyes to wander over to the central brig of the Leviathan that he was standing in. The floor would've had a distinct lens flare when the lights were fully activated, but Hibernation Mode meant the lights were dimmed and all non-essential ship systems were on low power. He missed some of that stuff, like the lounge on floor 22, which had dart boards, five holoscreens, a bar stocked with eight different kinds of beer, a pool/snooker table and a healthy number of chessboards. Although, it did have a Bunkers & Badasses set up that someone had snuck in, much to his chagrin. Whimsical game.

He supposed he couldn't complain, though. This extra power meant they could hide. The Crimson Raider Empire, as they now preferred to be called, hadn't been able to find them as of yet, and they had been searching relentlessly. McCain wasn't surprised, given how they annihilated the Hathusis galaxy's crucial organisation and caused outspoken turmoil that resonated through the entire foundation of the Human Empire.

Plus, they could work in complete secrecy on the Hammerfall Project. McCain was lucky to have found Dawnbreaker before the Crimson Raiders did, otherwise Gemini's current operations would never have come to fruition. It was a pity it had taken so long to get the Dawnbreaker functional again, but hopefully it would be worth it now that he actually knew how it worked.

He heard yells coming from the psychiatric ward, perhaps of pain, or something else entirely. Either way, if they were vociferous enough to be heard all the way up in the brig, then it was a problem. McCain turned to one of his officers sitting in front of a Holo-Reader.

'Officer Holden?' He called out to her.

'Yes, sir?'

'Alert the fleet. Tell them to chart a course to the Garn Belt when Chrysanthia is fully in our control. I'll give them the word to mobilise the fleet when the city is taken.'

'But, sir! The Garn Belt is heavily Crimson Raider-controlled.'

'Yes, and we have an army, Officer Holden. Now, do as I say and alert the fleet.'

'Yes, sir.'

Director McCain turned and left, walking away from the window he was staring at.

Out the window, protruding from the ship at great length, was something that did not belong. The barrel was long and somewhat stony in appearance, however it was visibly very robust. It had been painted the same grey colour, but there were sections of the ship left uncovered, revealing circuitry and wiring below that were still unfinished and practically bolted on. It had a long exhaust at the far end, lit up with cells of blue energy scattered across it. There were a few robots scattered across the exposed panels, placing new metal ones over them and reinforcing the pre-existing stone-like one.

Dawnbreaker was almost ready. And it would annihilate anything in its path.