Ramos didn't need to look to find the bunch from Atlas. A quick check of the personnel tracking systems showed exactly where they were, a staff break area between the two buildings they'd agreed to check. She summoned a cart and rode over to join them.
The place was quiet, which wasn't a shock. Most people would be on shift at the moment and only darting away for a drink or snack. Anyone off work would have taken a train back to their housing area.
Walking in, Ramos found them sat at a table off in a corner. They all looked up as the door opened. But of course Penny was the one to welcome her.
'Salutations!' The red head called shooting to her feet.
'Penny,' Watts grumbled.
'Oh right,' Penny nodded before whispering, 'Salutations.'
'Good to see you guys avoiding getting detained again,' Ramos said walking over to sit with them, 'There are cameras but they don't have microphones.'
'Then we can talk, discreetly,' Watts said nodding to Emerald, 'If you would.'
'On it,' The green haired girl said, her eyes scanning around before she gave a thumbs up, 'Okay we're good. Just make it quick; multiple perspectives are hard to keep up.'
'We have a few moments whilst she keeps the cameras from seeing anything,' Watts said, 'We didn't get into the places you listed. In fact we found no-one there but more androids.'
'Just DeeBees? On a special production line? That's not right, there should be a human overseeing it at all times. Hell, I was meant to meet with someone at each site.'
'Don't know what to tell you,' Mercury shrugged, 'Just a whole bunch of locked doors and androids telling us we're not where we're meant to be.'
'We tried telling them you'd cleared us to look around but they just said it was restricted and we needed to leave,' Emerald said with a tense look on her face.
'I too was quite surprised by their lack of assistance. The other ones we encountered were quite helpful. Then again they were Peacemakers so perhaps the programming is different,' Penny remarked.
'They were what?' Ramos hissed, 'Peacemakers are military use only. There shouldn't be any around here unless they've just been made and are being shipped out.'
'I'm sure of it. Their markings were quite clear,' Penny affirmed with a nod.
'Great. Secret factories being run by military units. Perhaps this will shed some light on things,' Ramos said taking out her PDA, 'Can you give this a check and see what you can find out?'
'Oh um… Of course. Let me just go over here and read it,' Penny said standing up and shuffling over to a corner
'What did you manage to find?' Watts asked.
'A whole lot of questions. Ones that don't sit right. You were right to think that place was worth a look into,' Ramos said leaning over to them.
'How so?' Mercury asked, clearly bored.
'Because they're doing work that shouldn't be needed. According to the staff they've been servicing boosters over and over. But never finding a fault to fix. Just running the process to inspect each one and giving it a service before marking it back into stock,' Ramos said nodding to Watts.
'That is very strange. There's a limited amount of those parts, each one is being tracked by both the Kingdoms and the Seran governments. So why have parts held here in limbo?' Watts asked deep in thought.
'They're not the only thing's held up,' Ramos muttered, 'The Honor is still in the drydock just across from the booster factory.'
'Hold on. The ship that got baked at Vale?' Mercury asked, 'You're still trying to fix that thing?'
Ramos rounded on him, 'It's a capital ship of the airfleet and one of the only ones we got built before the war broke out. Of course we're trying to fix it.'
'I uh… Excuse me,' Penny asked as she returned, 'That does not seem to be correct.'
'What do you mean?' Watts asked his focus switching to her.
'I've had a look and well… The numbers don't seem to add up,' Penny said, tapping a few points on the PDA.
'If you run the data through the COG systems it says it's all fine. But if I take the raw orders and check them against the reported outputs then it shows as substantially different,' She said, showing them a set of charts that only Ramos understood fully.
'That's not right. Those systems should automatically flag anything like that around production and ordering,' Ramos muttered as she read the information.
'According to this the Honor has had an excess of structural materials delivered alongside over double its lifting system requirements. Yet there's no part about armour being ordered nor anything related to restoring the power system to manage the railguns despite that needing to be done before the turrets are fitted.'
'That sounds more like a redesign than a repair,' Ramos muttered, 'Who the hell would need a bulked up cruiser with boosted engines, no combat capability?'
'Could they want it to fly somewhere fast with a lot of cargo?' Mercury offered.
'Or fly very high,' Watts muttered before turning to Ramos, 'How high can those Cruisers go, if they put everything into lift?'
'Normally? About a dozen kilometres. Why?' Ramos asked.
'Damn it!' Watts shouted banging on the table, 'We've been looking in the wrong place. The boosters aren't here because of a glitch. Someone's set this up, the Honor isn't being repaired, they're turning it into a launcher for the boosters! We considered using multiple stages in the past but with us having to use dust we couldn't make it work.'
'Wait. What would they be launching?' Ramos asked.
Watts clenched his jaw for a moment, 'Hammer Satellites. We have reason to believe someone has been working on covertly assembling several. Our investigation was to try and find out where they might be launched.'
'Hammer Satellites…' Penny muttered, she hadn't been told that part of the mission.
'We need to get into that drydock. That's the only way we'll know if you're right. And I hope you're not,' Ramos said, pushing out her chair as she stood up.
'Wait we need a plan,' Watts said, trying to forestall her.
'The plan would give them more time to do whatever they're doing. We need to find out what's happening, the best way to do that is to see what the hell is happening to the Honor in that dock,' Ramos said, turning and marching out.
'Huh. She's direct,' Mercury said as the others got up.
'Shut up,' Emerald and Watts snapped.
Ramos synced her PDA to her helmet as they rode a cart back to the drydocks. She dialled but wasn't able to reach O'Connor. As cliche as it might be she had to leave him a message just in case.
'Hi Silas. It's me. I know I said I'd keep you posted, but things seem to be FUBAR up here, especially around the Honor. I'm going to stick my nose where it isn't wanted and might get into trouble. So you'd better be ready to come break me out if I end up getting arrested… Talk to you soon,' With a sigh she ended the call.
'Making a last call?' Watts asked.
'Nope. Just making sure someone knows where we are. Someone who can call up the whole COG military if needed,' She muttered.
'Hmm. Seems quite astute,' Watts said with a nod, 'I'd better make a call myself.
A few minutes later the cart deposited them outside the covered dock with the Honor within. Ramos led off heading up to the entrance gate. As she approached the gate opened and a pair of DeeBees stomped out, Peacemakers.
'Whatever happens, don't show any aggression, don't reach for anything or tense up. Just keep calm,' Ramos whispered.
'What if they try to shoot us?' Mercury muttered.
'Then do something, but till then don't give them any reason to act.'
'Halt. Entry to this area is strictly prohibited. You are not permitted to proceed,' They both announced, holding lethal Enforcers at the ready.
'Really? Because I'm the CEO of DBI,' Ramos said pointing to herself and then the dock, 'That dock is property of DBI, I'm allowed and cleared to inspect any project that falls under the company. Bring out your commanding officer, I have a few questions for them.'
'Unable to comply. Please remain where you are,' The DeeBees said both taking aim, 'You are being detained for-'
'I am here at the direct order of the First Minister of the COG! You will stand down!' Ramos ordered, holding her nerve and hoping she'd shouted loud enough.
Negative. This area is-' The DeeBees started again stepping forwards.
'Hey! What's going on!' A voice called from behind them.
One of the workers from the booster plant was marching over. Even with the helmet on there was a clear annoyance in his body language. Ramos' heart rose as she saw him and fell just as quick.
'Bots are on the blink,' She said nodding to the Peacemakers, 'They're saying I'm not allowed to inspect the drydock. And that my clearance isn't valid.'
'Oh great. These things have been a pain since they got here,' The worker said, squaring up to the machines, I've seen her clearance. She's legit. I might not be allowed in there but you can't refuse to let her in.'
'You are not authorised to interfere with this site's security. Leave the area now or you will be detained,' The DeeBees stated.
Another worker stuck their head out the door, shouted behind them and then came over to join in. A few more came after and the disturbance drew a squad of DBI Peacekeepers who squared up with their military cousins. The whole time Ramos backed up carefully along with the others letting themselves meld into the group.
'What is happening?' Emerald asked.
'Any DeeBee is bound by a lot of rules. Including being unable to attack unprovoked without a valid reason,' Ramos said, 'Provided no one starts something, fights back when they try to arrest you or they get orders so they can't strike first they can't act. Especially when they're getting multiple new queries.'
'Seems like a fault that's being exploited,' Watts muttered.
'Please. We live with the things day in and day out. They're not stupid but they can't take initiative. People get used to skirting around their programming,' Ramos said, 'We just need to get out of here be-.'
A gunshot and scream cut her off. Those workers present dropped to the floor at once as the two sets of DeeBees started firing into one another. Whilst the Peacemakers had live rounds loaded the Peacekeepers shock rounds caused surges that knocked down a few of the military units before they went down.
'What the fuck!' Mercury shouted, 'I thought you said they couldn't attack.'
'Not without orders. Someone must have seen what was happening and given the order,' Ramos shouted, turning and sprinting around the building, 'Just run.'
'This plan seems to be coming apart as fast as I feared,' Watts snapped.
Ramos growled, 'We needed to confirm they're up to something. I'd say having armed guards with approval to shoot when confronted is about as incriminating as it gets. We need to-'
'A vehicle is approaching!' Penny shouted, suddenly turning to look.
The screech of a cart braking as it came to a stop made them all look in the same direction, it stopped just ahead of them. Two DBI technicians were standing in it. They were both holding compact pistols but were aiming around the corner.
'Get in! You'll never make it clear,' One shouted before firing off a shot at the first Peacemaker to peek around the building.
'We can't trust them!' Watts shouted as Ramos dove into the cart.
'Do you have a better plan?' Ramos shouted as bullets started to kick up around them.
'I'm with her!' Mercury shouted, performing a spin kick. As he did, a thick cloud of steam formed from the muzzle built into his foot. He lept in after Ramos followed by the others.
'Go go go!' The second "technician" shouted as the first punched the controls.
'I'm trying to just keep them off us!' The first snapped back.
The cart roared to life and tore around a bend so fast it nearly left the rail. Whatever they'd done to it clearly lifted its traffic controls as it shot through junctions and shifted tracks without any of the usual coordination. One of the technicians turned back to them.
'Get ready. We have to ditch,' They announced, plating a foot on the railing and bracing.
'Are you nuts!' Ramos shouted, 'We'll get torn to bits!'
'No but they'll track the cart we have to jump,' The second said, getting ready as well.
'It's okay. I can help you,' Penny said, taking Ramos' hand and leading her to the edge of the speeding cart.
'Oh god please don't let this be the end,' Ramos muttered before Penny fired her boot thrusters and flung them clear.
'Of course she gets it easy,' Mercury muttered before Emerald kicked him off.
They landed with some degree of scattering. Those with aura were winded but not harmed by the rolling along the ground. The two technicians were less fortunate with one breaking a leg against a lamp post.
'Oh hell quick we need to get a splint,' Ramos said as Penny brought them to a soft landing by the others.
'Ah. No time, get into cover,' The injured technician hissed as the other helped them up.
'Bots are coming, we need to be out of sight,' The second added, helping their wounded comrade into the shelter of an open loading bay.
Once they were all inside they closed the door and heard the sounds of racing carts shooting along after the now empty escape vehicle. The two technicians finally pulled off their helmets. Revealing two faces that were faintly familiar to Ramos.
'Wilson you idiot why did you have to go and actually break your leg? It's an expression,' The woman said.
'Shut it Cortez. Next time I plan the extract. If Clarke doesn't flay us for this one,' Wilson winced.
'Wait? You two are Clarke's little helpers. What are you doing here?' Ramos asked as their names clicked.
'We were monitoring the area trying to get some intel. Right before you blundered in and made us blow our cover,' Cortez said, turning back to look at them.
'So you knew something was up but didn't do anything?' Ramos asked.
'We were worried they might have something in place if they thought they were about to get raided,' Wilson grunted, 'Clarke is going to…'
'What? What is this "Clarke" going to do?' Mercury asked, annoyed, before noticing the spy's gaze was going past them.
'Yes,' A voice uttered from behind them, 'What are you about to say?'
'Ahh! How did you do that?' Emerald snapped drawing her weapons.
'I'm an agent of COG Security. Observing without being noticed is part of the job,' Minister of Security Clarke said looking at her two operatives.
'Yes Ma'am,' They both said, wincing.
'Now come on, with all of your shouting you'll bring them down on us. And I want to see what they're doing now you've kicked the nest.'
Clarke led them along down into the underground areas of the facility. Whilst the above ground areas were vast the place went down a dozen or so levels. The route took them past warehouses packed with materials or components and automated industrial units pumping out fresh stocks.
Rather than some hidden spy hole worked into the design like Ramos had expected, Clarke led them to a control room on the lower levels. The place was empty, its function was as a redundancy for if the topside control tower was in danger. Which meant it was totally deserted.
'Lets see what's going on up top,' Clarke said, starting up a terminal and bringing up a bank of screens.
'Should we be here? I can see like four cameras looking at us?' Emerald asked.
'Don't worry. We've got them on a loop already, they've not caught on yet.'
The screens connected to a number of views. Some are Watchers flying over the place with others static cameras panning around. Those showing the area where the Honor was docked were a flurry of activity.
'Oh tell me those aren't the things we came looking for,' Mercury groaned.
'They are. And it seems we've pushed them into acting now,' Watts growled.
On the screens a series of linked carts were bringing the boosters out from the factory and alongside the drydock. The panels hiding the dock from view were drawing back revealing the alterations made to the airship. In the place of the warship that had fought and been mortally wounded at Vale lay a new craft, one made to bear a less noble burden.
The main change they could see was the forward deck. Gone were the two railgun turrets on top, likely along with the one from the underside. In their place were a series of launch tubes with their hatches open, twelve total.
The cranes alongside the dock were already being connected to the boosters, lifting them up and over as the cover finished moving aside. Each tube was loaded with a booster followed by the cranes reaching into the drydock and rising back up with what looked like cylinders capped with cones.
'They were here,' Watts hissed, 'This whole time the Hammer satellites were being kept right beside that ship.'
'Those are heavy pattern fairings, oh shit this is really happening,' Ramos gasped in horror.
'We've got to do something! Stop them. Call in the army!' Emerald shouted.
'I've been trying to,' Clark hissed, 'Outside comms are cut off. We can only see this stuff because it's a local network link.'
'Silas,' Ramos muttered, pulling out her PDA, 'I got a call out, but I don't think he'll be worried enough to come check on me yet. What the hell do we do?'
'Watch and learn what we can. Then make a break for it and try to get word to the First Minister or to someone who can help,' Clarke muttered staring at the screens.
'I… I… What could they be thinking?' Penny asked looking around scared, 'This makes no sense. Why would they do this?'
Of all people Mercury put a hand on her shoulder first, 'Trust me. This is what some people are like. They want a bigger stick than anyone else.'
'Yeah, so big they need to put it in space,' Emerald said, patting Penny's other shoulder.
Around a quarter of the world away Jaune awoke to an alarm blaring. It was the general alert signal, which could mean nearly anything was happening right now. But a spotlight snapping on and pointing at the window left no doubt they needed him. Pyrrha sat up beside him shivering, she'd been complaining about being cold quite a bit recently.
'What is it?' She asked, looking over to him in the odd shadows caused by the light hitting the curtains.
'I don't know. I might not be right back okay?' Jaune asked, getting changed out of his pajamas and pulling on his casual clothes.
'I understand. Don't worry I'll be fine, just come back safe,' She said, giving him a quick peck on the lips as he finished.
'I promise,' He said, dashing out of the room.
Navigating the place at night was a pain. With only candles, which had gone out and the fire, which was just embers for light he'd have tripped over if not for the spotlight tracking him from room to room. It kept him lit all the way as he ran to the door that led into the cart tunnel.
'Lieutenant Arc, report to the Command Center!' A voice boomed over the PA.
'I'm going I'm going,' Jaune muttered as he dropped into a waiting seat.
The ride couldn't be fast enough. The cart tore past the barracks where the other personnel were running around. It came to a stop at the cart station nearest the old palace.
Rather than challenge him the guard DeeBees opened the doors at the checkpoints as he went at full sprint, dipping into his aura at points. He reached the Command Center, which had been built in what was once the meeting hall. The large table in the centre had been replaced with a massive holo-projector.
The sight on it made him come to a stop. It was showing some sort of industrial harbour, an airship which looked like a cruiser lacking turrets was lifting off and rising rapidly. Off to the sides were two flashing icons racing off the edge of the screen.
He saw Fisher sat in what had once been the king's seat, Day by his side along with a few others. Noticing him Fisher waved him over. Jaune jogged up to them just catching the end of their conversation.
'-cal commander won't accept our orders to engage. He's insistent the Bullhead has full clearance. He's not only refusing, he's demanding to know who sent the orders and gave permission for the Honor to take off,' One of the aides said, looking worried.
'We'll get them one way or the other. What about Ramos? Can we stop that train?' Fisher growled.
'No sir. Not without reaching into the control network. We might have been able to bump the cargo manifests around but totally overwriting a train would risk too many alerts,' Another aid answered.
'Fine. Get to work on spinning this, we'll use the agreed story and work from there understood?' Fisher said before dismissing the two of them and turning to Jaune, 'Arc. Sorry for interrupting you. Seems our timetable has moved up.'
'Calls to mind a quote about plans and contact with the enemy sir,' Jaune replied with a nod, 'What do you need?'
'Your pals we need them underwraps, too much of a risk they make this whole mess worse. I'm sending you with Agent for a snatch and grab. But first I think you'd like to see the show,' Fisher said, nodding to the holo-projector.
Jaune turned to watch as the view tracked the airship which was rising into the air, far faster then he'd thought a ship that size could. The view tracked out as it kept going till the craft was well above the ground. His eyes glanced over to a readout of the altitude, which showed 18km, that should be impossible airships could never fly that high.
'Thrust limit reached, standby, hatch one open and launching,' One of the controllers announced.
A small v shaped icon lept out from the Honor on the display. It tore upwards rising higher before starting to slow as it changed course so it was moving sideways. Below, more of the icons were lifting from the airship as the controller counted off each launch.
'Launch complete, auto return set, Honor is returning to normal cruising rate, lift systems returning from the red to nominal levels,' Another controller called.
'Confirmed payloads are entering orbit. Fairings ejecting now, connection in progress. Link confirmed with Hammer platforms one through twelve, all platforms are manoeuvring into assigned orbits. Home constellation moving into synchronous orbit over the Dragon's Tail. Expedition constellations one and moving to Sanus,' The first called out.
The satellites were forming into groups of four. One over the COG's heartlands, the second adjusting its orbit towards eastern Sanus and whilst the third setup over Vale's holdings. Twelve dots total, each as deadly and destructive as its neighbour.
'Hmm time to give people a sign of the times,' Fisher said, appearing by Jaune's side, 'Do the platforms have the fire missions loaded in?'
'Yes sir,' The controller called.
'Good. Start off with the locations we know about. Keep it low to start, we want a grand finale.'
A number of icons appeared across the world. Each one was a Swarm icon ringed by the forces of the Kingdoms or the Serans. In turn the Hammer icons started to pulse before a line connected each one to the points below them.
'Bring up the views. I want damage assessments running now,' Fisher ordered.
A set of screens before him flicked to show views of the ground. Blackned earth and rock marked where the first beams had hit home. One showed a Swarm strongpoint of sorts built out of an ancient castle, right before another beam lashed along the wall bringing half the structure down.
'Sir, we have a visual on the UIR fleet; they're engaged with one of the Flatback Sliders the Swarm has taken over,' A controller called.
'One of the what?' Jaune blurted out.
'Ha. Don't worry most people don't know, they've been keeping it quiet after all to avoid a panic. The Swarm has turned a few of those big turtles into mobile Hives. Using them to try and outmanoeuvre the UIR,' Fisher said with a grin before shouting, 'Bring it up.'
One of the screens now showed a rather strange battle. On one side was a group of UIR airships, firing off their missiles towards their opponent. As the missiles arched towards the massive form of the Slider what at first seemed like a cloud rose before it became clear it was Stingers, thousands of them most likely. The things formed a living wall of bodies that took the impacts for their nest.
Fisher shook his head, 'Stupid bugs keep blocking our missiles as well. Anyhive worth striking has a whole airforce of the things that block air attacks. Still, let's see them try and block this. Set for strategic firing mode.'
One of the controllers started to speak, 'Sir, the UIR fleet is within-'
'I know they're there. Do it.'
The controller entered the commands before sitting back. They all watched the holo-display as the four platforms over Vacuo started to flash in sync. Jaune gripped the edge of a railing, his heart pounding as he watched.
Far above Remnant the four Hammer satellites channelled energy from their batteries to their firing capacitors. Each ran a final check of the target before closing the covers over their sensors so as not to damage themselves. They all confirmed readiness and opened their firing apertures before unleashing their combined power upon the world below.
Figueroa stood on top of the skiff alongside the others, they'd all been woken by the panicked voices of the UIR crews who'd brought them to a stop. But truly it was the sound that had woken her Hickman and every other Searan. They knew that sound not just from the recordings, like it was carved into their very being.
That thrumming call like some kind of foghorn that made your hair stand on end. They all watched as the clouds were lit with red before being rent asunder by the same fire that had turned one world to ash and now began to burn another. These aren't the tactical beams from before that they'd seen before, bright as those had been these ones were painful even through the visors of their helmets.
Four beams on the same target, it must have been at least a dozen kilometres away but still the air around them reverberated with that same sound. The beams started moving closer to one another, like some strangely horrific ritual. Then they met and for a singular moment became a single column of light and fire. The raw power, heat and pressure of their union birthed a well of energy only contained by the forces of its creation.
With suddenness the beams stopped, unleashing the beast they had birthed. It was like a sunrise, an expanding dome of fire on the horizon. Rushing towards them was a wave across the desert. It hit them like a speeding truck, knocking some people over and making the skiffs rock on their suspension as they shifted slideways slightly.
They all stood still blinking away the after images and staring at the impact point. It didn't matter which world you were from. Seeing something like that in the flesh for the first time was enough to make anyone lock up.
'What… Was that?' Yang asked, finally breaking the silence.
'Hammer strike,' Figueroa said, trying to shake off the terror gripping her, 'Strategic firing pattern from the look of it.'
'Someone just upped the fucking stakes,' Hickman muttered.
'Is that rain?' Weiss asked looking up.
They all did so as well. Looking up at the darkening sky. But the darkness wasn't caused by the clouds, it was inside them and starting to fall.
'No… Get inside!' Figueroa shouted as her memory pulled up the parts about the Hammer, 'Glass hail!'
'Glass what?' Blake called before something brittle and fast slammed into the deck next to her, making her jump back.
'Get into cover!' Figueroa ordered, dropping any shred of care and going right to her do-it-now voice.
Other balls of glass were impacting now. They ranged from the size of a fingernail to fist sized orbs. Everyone was trying to seek shelter from the onslaught as they were pelted by the projectiles.
They all managed to get inside and the crew packing in with them drew no objections from either party. A few of those present started to pray to their chosen deity. One person Figueroa was sure had gone through at least five as he worked his way through several necklaces he'd had under his vest.
They were acting like the world was ending. To be fair, the scene didn't seem far from it. Fire and glass were raining from the sky and now they all knew some vast destructive power was hanging over their heads.
She however was looking at Čierna. Who was giving a look that could have matched that last shot if the raw fury was anything to go by. Figueroa wondered if she could ask the guy to make a few prayers for her, she was going to need them and soon.