Chapter 95: Bio-Cyber Warefare.
The group moved slowly up the stairwell while hugging the wall tightly, more than once the whole group had to use some vertical escape movements to avoid the insectoid soldiers that moved through the narrow stairwells.
Thankfully their boots and gloves were able to grip onto the resin sides and allow them to wedge themselves into the cavity above the soldier's heads allowing them to pass under them.
After twenty nerve-wracking minutes, the team finally reached the top of the tower and slipped silently into the control room.
The room made Markus instantly think of an air traffic control room if Xenos were given free roam to decorate it.
There were rows of computer banks with seats in front of them but all of them seemed to be affixed in place by layers upon layers of resin, it gave everything a repurposed organic kind of feel to the room, or maybe a nature reclaimed this space kinda feel.
It also seemed that the room was running on a skeleton crew as the vast majority of the desks were empty and the computers were seemingly either in low power mode or just switched off all altogether.
Markus also noticed that the operators seemed to have some kind of headset system that was directly connected to the computer bank but for some reason still had a holographic display that was showing line upon line of code that was indecipherable to him.
"Hey, Lucious any idea what those helmets the operators are wearing are?" Adesus asked beating Markus to the punch.
"Hmm not sure but I have a sneaky suspicion and if I'm right this could be a hell of a lot harder," he said sending a shot of worry down Markus's spine.
"What do you mean?" Markus asked quickly.
"Well the Savoir of Males has been working with somthing simular over in the science hive for a bit, I had to run him some parts for it over a couple of weeks back, while I was there he let me in one it, its a system designed for base bound SIGINTS or you know ship-bound SIGINTS, its a cypher system that can quick decipher incoming codes from a preloaded set of cyphers loaded into them, so it means we don't have to run decrpyption protocols to get the message out of encryption, the helmets will simply read it while still encrypted, but the clever part is that these helmets can only used by the person they are assigned to thanks to being keyed into both their DNA and brainwaves, they are also keyed to recognise stress hormones condusive with cohursion or threat, so if anyone other than the operator trys to use them they will either shock the person or rednder the code even more encyrpted by adding more layers to it, leaving pure gibberish in its wake, so if these are anything like ours this is gonna be a hell of a pull to work around," Lucious said.
"Fuck and I'm guessing that not only are you dealing with an already unknown language with unknown variables ain't gonna make it any easier huh?" Markus said and Lucious shot him a bit of a grin through his face plate which of course he couldn't see but he heard in the little Raptorian's voice.
"I wouldn't do this job if it were easy and simple, I joined the Saviours because I wanted to prove that Raptorian males could do just as well as our girls in the military and the Clan gave me that chance, I will not let my brothers and sisters down," he said passionately.
"Alright, then mighty male this is your show what do you need?" Markus said with both respect and a little mirth in his voice as the little Raptorian's passion.
"Just keep em off me while I work, I have no idea how good their anti-intrusion software is so I'm gonna need to be real careful but just a heads up this could wind up in sirens and people running, so fair warning," he said moving silently over to one of the banks of powered down terminals that faced away from the doors.
"Great, alright guys you heard him set defence on that desk, if shit hits the fan we hold here as long as we can then we bug the fuck out, if it goes loud you are weapons-free, I know this sounds lame to say out loud but we cannot afford witnesses here if they find out the Clan is here already it will blow the plan, so shoot on sight," Markus said causing the others to nod a little apprehensively.
Markus and Adesus drew their weapons and silently moved to set up on the desk keeping the workers in the room covered while Lucious slid under the desk and began to jack himself into the computer, now thankfully he didn't have to turn on any of the displays as the display in his suit had a bypass system that allowed him to shunt any outputted display direct to his visor so only he would see it.
Markus actually took the time to look at the workers sitting at their stations now and this when he realised that they seemed to look vastly different to their soldier counterparts.
For one they were smaller, infact they were roughly about the same size as Lucious standing in about four feet tall.
They were also far more muscular than their combat counterparts.
Their limbs were not only multisegmented giving them two elbows on each arm that seemed to not only fold in one direction but fully in the other as well giving them incredible flexibility, but they also seemed to have a multitude of what appeared to be micro tentacles at the end of each wrist instead of hands.
As Markus watched with fascination they seemed to use each of these little blue tentacles-like fingers, using them to strike the holographic keys at incredible speeds while their antennae and quad mandibles seemed to move and twitch quickly.
"Alright here we go peeps I have a stable connection and the terminal is online, I'm gonna start probing it and attempting an intrusion, Great Tree sheild me in your mighty branches from my enemies," Lucious said from under the desk.
Markus carefully watched the workers on the opposite of the room for any indication of alarm or stress from noticing an anomalous intrusion into their network.
"Huh, are you kidding me? No way it could be this simple, nah this has to be a ruse, let me run a Xeno script on this," Lucious said suddenly though obviously to himself.
"What have you found?" Markus asked while his eyes never left the little worker bugs on the far side of the room.
"Well if I'm right they are using a pheromonal coding system," Lucious said.
"Ok so?' Markus said with slight irritation in his voice at not having a clue what he was on about.
"It's a coding system that the Xenos use as well given that they use pheromones for a lot of things, so they figured out a way to convert it into a hexadecimal coding system that could be interpreted by a computer system, my guess is these guys never expected to come up against another species with knowledge of such things but if I'm right then the Xeno cypher script I just injected should stand a more than fair chance of busting clean through this thing," he said.
"Heres to hoping," Markus said feeling Adesus glancing at him as if sensing his nervousness because despite their stealth and cloaking systems it was all too easy to feel really exposed here.
"Applying a smart language cypher to it and here we go let's see what happens," Lucious said as he did something unseen to the rest of them.
For a good minute, there was nothing but silence and the chittering of the insect workers until Lucious exclaimed so loudly that they all nearly jumped out of their skin and how the hell none of them accidentally pulled their weapon's trigger he didn't know.
"I did it! it's fucking working!!" Lucious exclaimed from under the desk and Markus thanked the Eternal Huntress for the helmet mute systems meaning that none of his happy chirpings was audiable outside of their private close-range comms line.
"So are we in?" Adesus asked.
"Not yet but my codes are deciphering their language and their coding system, so give it a little time and I should be able to apply this to pop this network wide open, though how long I will be able to keep it that way is anyone's guess, I'm seeing quite a few backup and redundant systems here, now normally that wouldn't worry me but given the layout of this system there's no real need or reason for them, so my guess is they are covert security protocols designed to sweep the network for anomalies without making it obvious, now while I can avoid them for a while its law of probability that one of them will run across the intrusion eventually," Lucious said.
"How long do you estimate?" Markus asked.
"Piece of string question boss, it could be five minutes, could be five days, could be five months, but what is working in our favour are these Xeno-based intrusion programs are as slippery as a male who fell into a vat of scale wax and then went belly sliding on greased ice," Lucious said making Feris snort a laugh at that mental image.
"So pretty hard to nail down then?" Markus said and now it was Lucious's turn to snort a laugh.
"Yeah I'll say, but they aren't invincible so it is only a matter of time, but once in I'll be able to retask one of their weather satellites to begin a data uplink with our satalite, that will allow both ourselves and the GMF to gain full access to the comms network," he said.
Markus had honestly always envied people who could work with computer code like this, it wasn't just a talent or a skill it was as natural to them as breathing was to him, they saw order where others saw only chaos and they made sense of it and in a way that appealed to him on a base level.
To him nature was order but to others they saw only chaos, while his mind was easily able to perceive the strands that wove all things together and he could play them like an experienced harpist, to others there simply was no order to it.
"Shit this system is fighting back, I knew this was going to well, Great Tree lend me the strength of your mighty roots, anchor me in the here and the now and let me see my problems clear as the blue skies of the Great Garden," Lucious said whispering a soft prayer to the Great Tree while he worked hard fighting his invisible enemy until finally, he pumped his little fist in victory.
"I got you! The Saviour of Males never fails to protect! He said that trick would work against a recursive and predictive algorithms and he was right! Popped it like a cork!" Lucious exclaimed joyfully.
Before Markus was able to answer him his internal comms system sparked up, "Spectre one one this is GMF comms control we are reading your data stream, we're routing it to data storage and to the Grand Patriarch and Matriarch as well as the Alliance council for review, good job down there Spectre one three I knew you could do it, GMF control out," a voice that seemed oddly familiar to Markus said.
"Was that Hunter Smoke?" Markus said and Lucious's head popped up from under the table.
"Yes! That was the Guadian of Males!" he chirped happily.
"So are we done?" Adesus asked and Lucious nodded.
"We have full access, the virus I just injected will have them dancing for days at the very least, it multiples faster than Human loving Xenos at an orgy, but I would recommend a swift extraction as there is a high likelihood that their security protocols will detect the intrusion very soon and when that happens this whole place is gonna light up like aFreedom day tree," Lucious said making Markus snort a loud laugh at the unexpected blue joke from the little Raptorian who had a real habit of surprising all those around him.
"I thought that the whole point was for them NOT to detect our intrusion?" Adesus said sounding surprised at his nonchalant attitude to this.
Lucious nodded and turned to face her, "Normally I'd say yes to that but it's a little more complex than that, these guys have got some insane levels of anti-intrusion software, it adapts so freaking quickly that a part of me wonders whether its actually an A.I or even one of these operators who's wired directly into the system, it certainly has a much more organic feel to it than normal, but that's what the point of the viruses I injected into the system is, it's going to multiply rapidly and spread everywhere it can in the network before triggering the protocols on purpose from a million directions all at once, this will force them to divert resources to all those places where our actual intrusion program isn't located, therefore buying it far more time to entrench itself even deeper into the core system where if it works as the synths predict it will, it should make it so they can't actually get rid of it without having to wipe nearly their entire network clean which will collapse it, either way, we win, we either have pretty much permanent access to their network or we collapse their comms and intelligence network leaving them all blind," Lucious explained.
Adesus seemed to blink a few times while she processed what he'd just said and then she cocked her head at him.
"That's genius, so their network will either wind up leakier than a waterbed that I rolled on or they all wind up blind?" she asked and Lucious pointed and nodded.
"Exactly," he said.
"But won't it mean that we could wind up having problems with misinformation with them feeding us false intel because they know their network is compromised?" Feris asked and Lucious shook his head.
"It's certainly a possibility, but one of the major features of this system is to make them believe they managed to purge it, so with any luck they will be unaware of it because what it will do given time is infiltrate their security protocols and essentially white list itself so no matter how many scans they do for it, they won't find it, well that is if they don't wipe the network first," he said.
"Alright people talk tech later, escape now, let's move," Markus said gently ushering them towards the stairwell that they'd entered through.
As it turned out Lucious had been right on the money with his prediction of them detecting the intrusion because they were only halfway out of the base when the alarms started blaring in the data centre.
"Looks like they found one, about now their entire network just lit up like a Freedom Day tree, think we might need to pick up the pace," Markus said glancing back at the tower as soldiers began to swarm towards it from all directions.
"Yeah probably a good idea, right about now if these people are capable of panic, shit and fan are royally colliding right about now," Lucious said.
"You really like that turn of phrase don't you?" Feris said over the comms while shivering as her mind conjured an image of that happening in a room in which she was sitting.
Lucious chuckled to himself, "Our Grand Patriarch says it a lot and at first it didn't make sense to me and then I tried to imagine it and now I can't really imagine anything worse," he said.
"Yeah that makes two of us my little love," Feris said shivering under her armour again.
The team stayed still until the vast majority of the soldiers made their way to the data centre and once the coast was clear they slipped their way out of the base being extra careful to make sure their shimmers were not visible before they vanished out into the night.
Eventually, the entire team met up at the fallback location where they'd stashed the Surface Skimmers, the last two to arrive were Victus and Feris who were coming in off sniper duty.
"Hey tall, fluffy and handsome, did you have fun staring at my tail end through your scope?" Levi said playfully as Victus crawled into the OP.
"I err did no such thing!" Victus stammered and Markus couldn't help himself.
"Oh? So it's safe to call up your gun camera footage for the last hour or so?" he said and the look of panic written all over the large Beledon's face said everything they needed to know.
"No!" he exclaimed quickly before freezing solid as he realised he was caught red-pawed.
Then he hung his large horned head in what was obviously shame, "I may have looked once or twice, I offer my apologies to you Levi for inruding upon your personal space," he said softly holding his massive hands before his pelvis like an oversized school boy that got caught out.
Levi looked from Victus to Markus, "Umm think the Grand Patriarch will give me a star hunt pass?" she asked causing Markus to smile warmly.
"You know what, I am a Seeker of Truth you know, I think I can categorically say I do believe I know whose heart the Eternal Huntress would choose for him to hold for life, but if you like I can always petition her for a pass?" he said.
"You can do that?" both Levi and Victus said in perfect unison which made Markus's smile broaden even more than it was already.
"It's a little-known privilege of a Seeker in the field, our Grand Patriarch instructs all on it when we pass out and become full Seekers of Truth, regardless of which sect we belong to, we call it the Heart of Battle and it allows a Seeker to petition both the Eternal Huntress and any other required deity to request an answer on whether they will bless a union between the two before us, so if you truly both wish it I can make the request, though let's wait until we are back at the ship before we do it ok?" he said.
Levi and Victus both looked at one another before both turning back to Markus, 'Please make the request," they both said in perfect unison again causing Markus to chuckle.
"I get the feeling I already know the answer but yeah ok," he said.
While the entire base was still in uproar the team used the chaos to pack up and get out the hell outta Dodge, they had their entire OP dismantled and packed onto their Surface Skimmers before booking it back across the desert before the sun was even close to breaking on the horizon.
Just before dawn broke the group rode back into their camp, their original plan had been to remain out there for a few days just in case it took them multiple attempts to break into the network, or if further action was required, but given their early success they decided not to push their luck while they waited for contact from the Clan with follow up instructions.
"Alright guys good job out there, that went by the book and I'm proud of all of you, Lucious incredible work my friend, if you can touch base with the Clan and then keep an eye on the comms I'd appreciate it, everyone else you are off duty until we get a response back from the Clan regarding our next move, Levi, Victus the pair of you are with me," Markus said gesturing to the big Beledon and the female Xeno to follow him.
The three of them headed into the back of the cave and Markus could actually feel the nervousness coming off both of them as they stood there anxiously waiting for him to instruct them.
"Alright before we go any further I have to ask one last time, are you sure you want me to do this, because once I start this process there is no stopping it and it's a one-way trip guys," he said kinda already knowing the answer he was gonna get from both of them.
The pair looked at one another and nodded, "Yes, we're sure," they both said and Markus nodded.
"Alright then, take a seat and get comfortable," he said letting them both take a seat before him on the ground before he joined them.
"Alright everyone join hands, now I have to warn you you will be tested here, that is kinda the point and before you ask I have no idea what shape the test will come in, that's the whole point of this is for both the Eternal Huntress to gauge your worthiness and to satisfy your diety as well Victus, know that once it starts there is nothing I can do to help the pair of you, you must face what comes together to prove yourselves, hell I won't even be able to truly see what happens to you to ensure that I can be no aid to you, understood?" he said and the pair nodded again.
Markus was actually feeling rather nervous and excited himself here, he'd of course heard of this ritual and both the Grand Patriarch and Patriarch Ryan had explained it to him when he'd joined the Seekers and the prospect of having to initiate one of them had always intrigued him, but never had he imagined that he'd actually get to be the one who actually petitioned the Goddes of the Hunt himself, he figured that would always be somthing in the hands of the Grand Patriarch, but here he was ready to serve the Clan in any way that was needed of him.
Once they'd all taken hands Markus looked up at Victus, "Which Deity am I petitioning on your behalf brother?' he asked.
"Cernunnos the father of the forests, he is the God of the deepest of green and it was he who watched over my village in the highest northern territories and blessed us with the greenest grass and tallest trees," he said proudly.
Markus nodded and then he took a deep breath, "Alright here we go, focus on just the sound of my voice, close your eyes and hear it resonating through your very soul, in every fibre, in every cell, in every breath you will hear me, I pull you with me into the place where nature lives, into the bluest sky and the deepest ocean, across the greenest field and down into the deepest cave, we will tread together the path that nature sets out," Markus said reciting the Tamers prayer of invocation over and over until he felt the power winding through the three of them like the roots of a mighty tree.
"Hear me Lady Paya, Goddess of the Eternal Hunt and mother of the noble Yautja people, guardian of the Clan Mason and all who are born within her borders, I seek an audience to test these two hearts and souls to see if they are worth to carry one another onwards into the future as man and wife, hear me Cernunnos father of the forest, god of the Beledon people, father of the deepest green and protector of nature, I seek an audience to see if your son is worthy of this woman whom he holds dear and to see if she is worthy of his heart, please see me and hear me," Markus said over and over until with a mighty flash they found themselves transported.
"Well well well, the Heart of Battle, I wondered who would be the first to invoke it, funny I always believed it would be Jack Mason somehow but it seems someone beat him to the punch, greetings young Tamer," a very silky voice said from behind Markus causing him to turn.
There in full battle dress and carrying a mighty spear which looked like it could be used to cleave through planets let alone mighty beasts, was Paya, the Goddess of the Hunt herself.
Markus dropped to one knee and bowed before her.
"My lady thank you for hearing me and granting me this audience," he said.
"You are most welcome young one, oh and please drop the formality, come on up you get, on your feet young Tamer, you know that the one thing I love about Jack Mason is he's always such a smart-ass when we speak, that informality is refreshing, Yaujta are so feared by all we encounter and rightly so given my people are seasoned hunters and huntresses trained in the arts of war from young, so it makes me see why my beloved daughter worships the very ground on which her ooman walks because none of that matter to him, he simply sees the beauty of a strong and proud Yautja woman and he acts upon that feeling with a pure passion-filled heart," Paya said flicking her hand and suddenly Markus found himself on his feet stood before the 9ft tall Yautja huntress.
Paya cracked her mandibles into a warm smile as she looked down at him and was obviously amused by his surprise at her actions but then she was a goddess so it was most definitely her purview to act however she wished.
"Well this is surprising I must say, it has been many aeons since I heard a human call my name into the ether and I do believe it has been over three thousand years since I encountered one with this kind of power, I suddenly feel like I have been so preoccupied with the Beledon and their recent plight that I have failed to notice the changes in the universe at large," a very deep voice said from behind Markus and he turned to see the speaker right behind him.
Cernunnos was easily as tall as Paya but unlike the Eternal huntress, he appeared to be almost fawn-like in his appearance, his lower half seemed to be that of a deer right down to the digitigrade legs tipped with hoves, to the antlers sat apot of his human head.
He was looking down at Markus with the deepest green eyes he had ever seen in his life, it was like looking into the leaves of the Great Tree at point-blank range, but whereas Paya exuded power and strength, Cernunnos exuded calm and gentleness.
"Greetings wise Cernunnos, my name is Markus Reinhard and I am a Seeker of Truth, more specifically a..." Markus began but Cernunnos seemed to have his own ideas about how to progress the conversation and he began walking around him sniffing the air about him like a deer might smell for a predator.
"A child of the green! Oh, how wonderful, it has been so very long since I had the chance to converse with of your kind, it has always touched my heart how woven into the very fabric of nature itself your kind are, so what can I do for you young human of the green?" Cernunnos said warmly while smiling at Markus.
"He has come to us for a Heart of Battle proposal," Paya said and Cernunnos looked up as if actually seeing Paya for the first time since the conversation began.
"Ahh Paya! It has been too long my dear lady, how have you been?" he asked greeting the goddess warmly.
"I have been very well, overseeing Clan Mason as it expands into the great ocean of black is quite the full-time job but also the full-time pleasure, watching as my beloved sons and daughters find themselves new loves and challenges among these wonderful people is most gratifying as well as those very same people embracing the ways of the honourable hunt so readily," Paya said gesturing towards Markus.
"So whom do you bring before us for us to test?" Cernunnos asked turning back to Markus who turned to gesture to both Levi and Victus who were both standing there with their mouths hanging open as they watched him converse so freely and openly with both a goddess and a god as if it was just another normal day.
"Ahh I see why I was called here, it is good to see you Victus, I see that you have settled in very well among your new Clan," Cernunnos said walking up to the large Beledon who fell instantly into a kneeling bow before the large god.
"Cernunnos I am not worthy to stand in your presence!" Victus exclaimed in a fearful voice.
"Oh come now my beautiful son I made your heart braver than this, come, to your hooves now and puff out that brave chest," Cernunnos said lifting Victus to his hooves as if he was as light as a feather floating on the breeze.
While Victus stood there open-mouthed looking up at his patron god in awe Paya had managed to stealth her way over to the oblivious Levi who was so distracted and worried about Victus she had failed to notice the 9ft goddess inspecting her closely now.
Though when she did notice her the screech that escaped her was rather quite epic.
Paya smiled warmly at the surprised young Xeno girl and nodded in approval at her.
"I feel the love you have for him young child of the hive, it holds your heart like a warm shroud on a winter's day, so deep in your thoughts was he that you failed to notice my approach until you could fail to ignore it any longer," she said and quickly grabbed her before the young Xeno could drop into a kneeling bow.
"Nope, on your feet, you remain young one, you've earned that much," Paya said holding her upright.
"His love for her ebbs through him like the warmth of a crackling fire," Cernunnos said glancing between Victus and Levi before turning to Paya again.
"So what do you think Cernunnos, worthy of the test or not?" Paya asked and the large hybrid-like god nodded his head making his huge antlers bounce in time with him.
"Indeed my dear lady, our young child of the green has done well to bring them before us, he sensed their connection and did not wish to waste time on their love being unrecognised should the unthinkable happen during this vile war," he said.
"I agree, well then young ones brace yourselves you are about to be tested and I hope young Markus explained to you that you cannot call upon him to aid you in this, this is a test for your hearts and your hearts alone and should you pass it you will be forever joined in our sight, is this what you wish?" Paya said.
"Yes! More than anything!" they both cried out in unison.
"A good choice indeed young Markus, well then off you go and let us see if love decides to hold true or to break," Paya said and with a mighty clap of her large hands, the pair vanished leaving Markus alone with the two deities for company.
"Umm, shouldn't we err observe the test?" Markus asked as he looked around himself and Paya fixed a smirk upon her face.
"Oh we are don't you worry, one of the many perks of being a goddess or indeed a god young one, we get to be in multiple places at once, for example right at this moment I am watching over my daughter as she paces back and forth on the bridge of that mighty flagship of yours, she is torn between taking the time to sift through the data you have sent to her and snatching her beloved ooman away from his station and making a break for their quarters with him, so great is her need that I am almost tempted to give her a little poke to see if she can resist it, I must say they are always entertaining to watch," Paya said with a light and airy laugh that Markus did not expect from the mighty goddess.
"I hardly think one of your children needs encouragement to indulge in their passions lady Paya," Cernunnos said and Paya shot him a sly grin.
"Indeed my old friend, it is one of the many reasons I am so very proud of them, those that hold true to the ways of the honourable hunt have such great restraint that it makes their every victory oh so much more sweeter, patience is always the key to any great and worthy victory," she said and somehow Markus got the feeling that Paya was actually giving him a hint on how they were currently testing Victus and Levi.
"Umm forgive me for this possibly impertinent question my lady but can you sense the Nightmare Assassins on the planet we are currently upon?" Markus asked and Paya's face instantly soured as she nodded.
"Yes I feel the darkness that sours their souls like an infection in a wound, it makes my heart yearn for vengeance on behalf of the Beledon people that so many of their blessed children were tricked and co-opted into this war that was not their own, my blood cries out with fury at what has been done to these good people," she said.
"Are they enslaved or have they joined willingly, is there a chance that we might undo what was done to them and save them?" Markus asked.
Paya looked both angry and saddened though Markus felt it was not aimed at him.
"Some young ones but not all, unfortunately, the deception of the great spiked deceiver has run too deep for some to ever be brought back to the light, but there are some whom Clan Mason can reach and trust me you will know them when you see them, infact I have it on good authority that you will meet one of them very soon," she said.
"Yes I feel this as well and I do believe I know whom you are talking about lady Paya, young one I ask you that you do everything in your power to free my child, they did not ask for any of this, they were stolen from me and corrupted, bring them back to the truth," Cernunnos said imploringly.
But before Markus had the chance to answer both of the deities seemed to sense something and turned to look at a spot not far off from them.
"the trial is complete," Paya said with a smile and just like that there was a flash and Victus appeared carrying Levi in his arms and wearing what looked to be a triumphant smile upon his features.
Victus walked up to the two deities and he knelt down holding Levi close to him as he bowed his head.
"I walked the valley of death and I stood tall, I conquered the threats posed and I pulled my love from the jaws of death, now I bring her before both of you and I declare my heart loud and true, I love this woman with all that I am and there shall never be a day that I will not stand for her," he said proudly.
Levi hopped out of his hands and joined him in the bow and she slammed her own fist into her chest.
"As on my end I too conquered my fears and I trusted that this male would come for me, I stood tall and held out with the hope that he would reach me before I fell, I trusted that his belief in me was strong enough for him to reach me in time," Levi said.
Both deities looked at one another and nodded in unison.
"Stand tall, both of you, this day you have proven your love not only to one another but to all of us, your hearts are true and your love is pure, go forth now as man and wife, because I hereby bond you for life in both my sight and that of my brother in arms Cernunnos, arise young ones and step forwards into your future, together," Paya said wrapping a long silken thread around the pair of them which seemed to bind both of their hearts together.
With that, Paya turned with Cernunnos at her side and gave Markus a wave before with a snap of her fingers the trio worked back up to the real world only to find Verris wandering around them waving some kind of scanner over them.
"Oh, you're back! How did it go?" Verris asked looking relieved.
"Get worried much doc?" Markus asked with a grin.
"Hard not to when your vitals go into coma mode for no reason, took a moment of pure panic for me to realise you were pulling some Dream Warrior shinanigans again," he said.
"Come on I'll tell you all about it, Lucious still the kettle on!!" Markus said his voice raising to a yell as a little Raptorian head popped out of the top hatch of the ship.
"On it boss!!" Lucious chirped and with the group headed for the ship.