Something tickled the back of Cassie's mind as she followed the retinue of Mechanicus personnel into a dig site on a planet reserved for burials. Here and there she heard mention of a Chapter Master named Lord Calgar, and somehow it seemed familiar to her.
"Uh, Cassie?" Saoirse got her attention in a tiny voice. The newer Tamer was very unsure of herself, and Cassie would gladly help her get her footing. "How did you get on the battle barge in the first place?"
"I can dive into computer networks and travel huge distances that way," she explained. "In my universe, it was the safest and fastest way for me and my partner to get from one place to another. Here, however, it's not so reliable."
"Why's that?"
"Archaic networks, unstable connectivity, and I could accidentally set off security measures that would get myself and my partner killed."
A Tech Priest squawked when she called their computer networks archaic. Somehow she knew it was an indignant sound. Comparing the two universes was like comparing night to day, especially on the technological front.
"Have you ever met this Lord Calgar I keep hearing about?" she asked her new friend.
"No, and I doubt I ever will," Saoirse said. "He is the Ultramarines Chapter Master; very important among the Astartes, second to the Lord Regent."
"Mind explaining a bit? My universe doesn't have Astartes or a God Emperor."
That earned her a double take from the girl and everyone around them.
"Careful, you'll get whiplash," Cassie teased them. They were coming to a sterilization chamber now. Just how deep did this place go?
"A Chapter Master is the head of an Astartes Legion or Chapter," Morias Leuze explained, not as surprised as the rest of their group. "Do your people worship any gods? What of Warp travel?"
"The Warp doesn't exist in my universe, at least not in any way for us to interact with. As for deities…are you familiar with your Terra's ancient history?"
"Vaguely," he admitted and Saoirse shook her head.
"There are many cultures in our shared histories. It's a mixed bag of yes and no depending on who you ask. There are atheists, Christians, and a wide variety of pagans in my home universe."
"I feel we should change our topic of discussion before you are accused of heresy."
"Probably a good idea."
All conversation stopped as the latch closed behind them in the chamber and the decontamination process started. No one spoke until the procedure ended and they exited the other side of the chamber.
"Marneus Calgar…" Cassie muttered under her breath, remembering a friend from years ago.
"What is it?" Saoirse asked, head tilted.
"Just starting to think an old friend of mine might have been from this universe." Her new friend stared at her as they continued to walk. "His name was Tacitan. We met in a Digital World when it was in crisis and worked together to save it. He was dressed kind of like you, but I didn't think much of it at the time."
"Tacitan? That's a name I haven't heard in a long while," Rasenmon spoke up from the Digi-Bracelet. "He and his partner were fierce fighters."
"And good strategists," Cassie smiled, remembering the scrappy boy that had gradually overcame his fear of Digimon and really showed his brilliant mind when needed. "I remember he said he had been selected to join his friend Marneus Calgar in some sort of initiation. After that, I never saw him in the Digital World again, and then my home world was invaded, and that network was destroyed along with that Digital World."
"Considering that you were called here would make that theory plausible," Leuze threw in his two cents. "However, Lord Calgar is centuries old."
"Time flows differently in the Digital World. A year in there is an hour out here in reality."
"But you did not travel into a Digital World."
"I got called here by a Digital World. And since this is a completely new scenario that's never been experienced before, I wouldn't be surprised if time flows differently between mine and this universe." They kept going deeper and deeper down. Whatever was down here had to be ancient and extremely dangerous. "How much further do we need to go?"
"Not much further."
During this entire exchange, Cassie had been drumming two of her fingers on her Digi-Bracelet in what would look like a nervous tick to anyone around her, but there was a rhythm to the drumming. It was a code she and her partners had developed during the Earth Invasion to communicate with allies.
And she prayed to this universe's God Emperor that the message would get through to the Ultramarines before everything goes to hell in a handbasket and her second message would reach her friends.
Titus and his squad reported to the Captain after a disastrous mission to get a message out through the Astral Choir. Chaos forces were appearing en mass on the very planet Project Aurora was kept, and something more had been added to the mix.
"The Tamer, Cassandra, has sent us a message," Captain Acheran said, leveling his gaze with Titus. "She translated something stored in the artifact. You were right about this, but not on the scale of disaster we are about to face."
"What did she find?" He asked, curious as to what this Tamer found that would put the Captain on edge.
"The power source is a key to a prison. Made by who, we do not know yet, but whatever they imprisoned scared them enough to put multiple fail safes in place that the Mechanicus have been unknowingly undoing. Cassandra called it a Ragnarok level threat."
"Ragnarok?" Chairon asked this. "An old myth from Terra's ancient past that depicts a very destructive end of the world."
"And possibly an apt description of what's to come, but on a larger scale. Cassandra will do what she can to stop Leuze from activating Aurora, but we need to be ready for the worst case scenario. Get down there and stop Leuze."
In the space between dimensions, where a golden figure observed all of humanity, three streaks of light shot through, hurling towards the brewing conflict. The figure observed the lights and subtly guided them to where they were needed.
Once the end of their trek was in sight, Cassie decided to bring up a topic herself.
"You know, I don't think I ever got the the Danger Categories my friends and I made," she said as they approached the consoles and machines hooked up to a massive, black obelisk looking structure. Leuze was typing away on the console, but she had his attention. The other Mechanicus priests had left some time ago to secure the area. "There's the Ragnarok scenario where a Digimon, singular or a group of them, are strong enough to cause catastrophic destruction to both the Digital World and the real world. I've dealt with several Digimon that would have destroyed an entire planet if left alone. The other category is Black Winter. A Black Winter level threat is one you'd better be praying you don't unleash here, Leuze."
He froze, Saoirse whipped around to look at her, and Cassie crossed her arms.
"The translation was completed hours ago; both the Digi-runes and the Necron text. It was a warning to never use the artifact you're about to use on a Necron gate like this, or a Digimon this universe's Digidestined far back in the past sacrificed themselves to seal away will get out and destroy all of creation. Leuze, if you activate the Aurora weapon, you'll be unleashing something far worse than anything that comes out of the Warp. Something I and my partner could never handle on our own.
"For the love of the Machine God you worship, do not activate Aurora."
For a long moment, Leuze said nothing. Then he pressed a button. They were encased in a dome of energy, and both Cassie and Saoirse fell to their knees in pain. The screen of her Digi-Bracelet flickered between static and the image of her partner roaring in pain.
"There is no other way, Cassandra," the Magos said. "You are not from this universe. You do not understand how desperate we are to go to these lengths.
"So, let me complete my life's work. Trust that I know what I am doing."
Cassie only glared at him as proceeded to power up the device.