Location: The King's Workshop
The Pale King was looking over the blueprints for his tram system again. He was still wondering how the civilization responsible for those stunning ruins he had seen in his many travels before becoming king of Hallownest pulled them off. He didn't detect a trace of magic in any of the still functioning devices, but they mesmerized him. Those vast rail networks that stretched on for miles were what truly amazed him, it was like these civilizations might have just been one, and connected its territory via these rail lines.
The Pale King was quite a bit of jealous truth be told, he was a wyrm damn it, he was the giver of minds, a god of knowledge, how could this ruined civilization outdo him in sophistication?! In truth the Pale King copied a lot of things from the ruins he found, those weird high hanging lamp things, he wasn't exactly sure how they worked, so he just slapped lumiflies in a glass jar as a substitute.
In fact, much of his architectural knowledge came from his observations. The Pale King hated to admit it, but he was almost trying to make a replica of this dead civilization. They appeared to have a written language that he couldn't decipher, so finding out how they did what they did from their words wasn't exactly an option. It just infuriated him, the keys to glory were right in front of him, and yet they remained locked behind him not being able to understand.
The Pale King continued looking at the blue prints before him.
"If I were to make a soul engine…" Suddenly a royal retainer burst through the workshop door, and began to yell panicked gibberish at the Pale King.
"MY KING! TALL BEINGS! KILLED GUARDS! DESTROYED PLATOON! FACELESS WARRIO-"
"Calm down!" The Pale King shouted over the panicked retainer. "Calm down, and tell me what happened"
The retainer collected himself, and explained the situation.
"My king, tall figures in white with faces of black have been spotted at the King's Station, and Hallownest's Crown, they carried strange weapons that our sentries' armor were useless against. they killed a great sentry with ease, at King's Station, and the three at Hallownest's Crown killed all but one member of the 4th City of Tears brigade."
The one about the incident at Hallownest's Crown concerned him greatly. Had the moths found a new trick up their sleeves? Was this their doing? He knew they would cause trouble again if left unchecked. But… he didn't actually know if this was the moth's doing, he would need more information. It was his duty to protect his people after all, and jumping to conclusions would be rather detrimental to that. Though the current situation makes him miss his kingsmoulds, they were second only to the Great Knights in terms of combat ability, what he wouldn't give to have had the Shade Lord let him keep a few.
"You are dismissed" The Pale King said, he would need to gather his Great Knights to deal with this crisis, Dryya would be difficult, her main goal was protecting his wife, the White Lady, and to say that she hated him right now would be like calling the City of Tears slightly damp.
But he would need all of his Great Knights for this, if three could kill an entire brigade, what could more of them do? The two sightings happened in two very different locations, with not enough time between them for these tall beings to travel that distance, meaning that there were at least six of them. There is no telling what kind of damage six of them could do if left unchecked.
Location: The Abyss
"YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!" Julia shouted in her head, the communicator was fully repaired, and she could now call the Bunker, the signal sent out should be able to be tracked back to where she is now. Hope swelled in her, she might actually make it out alive, and get as far away from that Shade Lord thing as possible.
Julia looked around to make sure no vessels were around to some how fuck this up for her. When she saw none that were paying any remote attention to her at that moment, she typed her message into the communicator.
- Send help, I have been kidnapped, trace the signal to find me, passed through an urban center before reaching here. Rescue team will need to be fast enough to move before the bugs can mobilize, but strong enough to deal with large amounts of possible resistance.
Not long after, she received a message herself.
-Message Received Julia, rescue force is being assembled.
And send, Julia layed down on the cold ground, a weight being lifted off her shoulders, she realized how hungry she was, she hadn't eaten anything since she woke up from stasis, she was starving. The Stress of the recent events must have taken her attention off her not eating, it felt like she could empty a few fridges, she hoped rescue got here soon.
Location: Director's Office
"Let me get this straight Allen, you want to wake a gene trooper from stasis?" Vilmire asked in a surprised tone. Allen was asking that he wake up a 7 foot tall, heavy weapons toting one man army encased in carbyne aluminum alloy.
"Why not use a few of the one hundred military personnel that you woke from stasis with?"
Allen didn't seem perturbed, he just listed off the facts again.
"Alpha Team member Julia mentioned how her kidnapper took her through an urban center, and that the bugs will likely mobilize if we aren't quick, a large force would be too slow, and a small one likely wouldn't even have enough ammunition to deal with all the potential targets. However a gene trooper is fast, and is capable of engaging large forces on their own, just give them the order, and they will be hell bent on doing it. Though the adrenaline rush might make them more… brutal than needed, but if it is to rescue one of our own, I think it's worth it." Allen Said
Vilmire sighed "Fine, you have my permission to awaken one of the gene troopers, and only one, and I want them back in stasis as soon as possible, and order it to use restraint"
"Yes sir" Allen saluted, and then began making his way to where the gene troopers were stored.
Allen just hoped that they didn't cause a needless blood bath along their way to save Alpha Team Member Julia.