⫸ [ TIME: +1 DAY SINCE THE BEAST TIDE ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: SECTOR 2 – THE OBSIDIAN CANYON ]
⫸ [ STATUS: EXPEDITION ]
The world here was sharp.
The jungle ended abruptly at the canyon rim. Beyond the trees, the earth opened up into a jagged scar three kilometers wide and one kilometer deep. The walls were made of black volcanic glass that had sheared off in massive, razor-edged sheets.
The wind howled through the gap. It wasn't a natural sound. It was a whistling scream created by the air moving over the obsidian flutes.
Elian stood at the edge.
He was wearing the Mark-IV "Warlord" Suit. The heavy servos whined as they fought the wind shear.
Behind him, the Hover-Sled (modified from the Cultivator wreckage) floated silently. It carried Grom, Lin, and a squad of five Iron Legionnaires.
"Readings," Elian ordered.
[ Magnetic interference is high. ]
[ The mineral composition of the walls is scattering the radar. ]
[ However, the radiation signature is distinct. ]
[ Gamma radiation. Isotope: Plutonium-238. ]
"Nuclear," Elian said. "That's not magic."
"It feels... sick," Lin whispered. She was clutching her chest. "The air here tastes like sour metal. There is no Aether. It is a dead zone."
"It's a lead-lined zone," Elian corrected. "Get in the sled. We are going down."
He activated his jump-jets.
The sled followed.
They descended into the dark throat of the canyon. The light of the suns vanished, blocked by the overhangs. The temperature dropped twenty degrees.
They hit the canyon floor.
It was a graveyard of rocks. But among the fallen boulders, Elian saw the anomaly.
It wasn't a cave.
It was a blast door.
A massive circle of rusted tri-steel, twenty meters wide, embedded in the cliff face. It was covered in centuries of grime, but the shape was unmistakable.
"A GATE FOR GIANTS?" Grom asked, gripping his Rail-Pike.
"No," Elian walked up to the door. He wiped away the moss with his armored gauntlet.
Underneath the dirt, there was white stenciling. The paint was faded, but legible.
[ U.E.C. COLONY SHIP "ARCHIMEDES" ]
[ CAUTION: AIRLOCK 4 ]
[ QUARANTINE IN EFFECT ]
"United Earth Coalition," Elian read. "This predates the Federation by five hundred years."
"Earth?" Lin asked. "Is that the Upper Realm?"
"It's where I came from," Elian said softly. "Before we conquered the stars. Before we learned to harvest souls."
He looked at the control panel next to the door. It was a physical keypad. No Aether interface. No magic runes. Just buttons.
"A.R.C., crack it."
[ Interface requires physical connection. ]
[ Extending data-spike. ]
A probe shot out of Elian's wrist. He jammed it into the rusted port.
[ System dormant. Battery critical. ]
[ Injecting power pulse. ]
ZZZT.
The panel flickered. Red emergency lights strobed weakly.
A voice, cracked and distorted, played over the speaker.
"Warning. Containment breach. Atmospheric scrubbers offline. God help us all."
CLANG.
The massive gears inside the door ground against the rust. The locks disengaged with a sound like a gunshot. The door groaned and slid open a meter.
Dead air rushed out. It smelled of preserved decay.
"Helmets on," Elian ordered. "We are walking into a tomb."
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 11:30 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: INTERIOR – THE ARCHIMEDES ]
⫸ [ STATUS: INCURSION ]
They moved through the corridors.
The ship was massive. It was built like a submarine—tight, utilitarian, claustrophobic.
Bodies lay in the halls.
They were skeletons in rotted blue jumpsuits. They held ballistic rifles. There were bullet holes in the walls.
Not claw marks. Bullet holes.
"They fought each other," Elian noted.
"Madness?" Grom asked.
"Mutiny," Elian said. He pointed to a barricade made of mess hall tables. "The crew turned on the command staff."
[ Analysis: Radiation levels are elevated but stable. ]
[ Cause of death appears to be starvation and kinetic trauma. ]
They reached a central atrium. It was a hangar bay.
In the center sat a machine.
It wasn't a weapon. It was a Terraforming Drill. A massive tracked vehicle with a laser-bore designed to pierce the crust of a planet.
But Elian wasn't looking at the drill.
He was looking at the sentries guarding it.
Four "Peacekeeper" Droids.
They stood three meters tall. Bipedal. Heavy armor. Gatling guns mounted on their arms. They were dormant, covered in dust.
"Don't touch anything," Elian warned.
Lin stepped closer to one of the skeletons. She reached out to touch a strange device on its belt.
Her finger brushed a laser tripwire.
BEEP.
The hangar lights snapped to red.
A siren wailed.
[ SECURITY ALERT. UNAUTHORIZED BIO-SIGNS. ]
[ INITIATING PURGE PROTOCOL. ]
The Peacekeeper Droids woke up.
Their optical sensors flared crimson. Their Gatling guns spun up.
"CONTACT," the lead droid synthesized.
"Cover!" Elian screamed.
BRRRRRRT.
The air filled with lead.
Thousands of rounds chewed through the barricades.
Grom raised his Void-Steel shield.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG.
The bullets sparked off the shield. The impact was continuous, like a jackhammer. Grom snarled, bracing his shoulder against the metal.
"They aren't stopping!" Grom shouted. "They have no reload!"
"They are belt-fed from internal hoppers," Elian said.
He scanned the droids.
◤ THREAT ANALYSIS ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Unit: U.E.C. Peacekeeper (Mark-IV)
⬢ Armor: Depleted Uranium Composite
⬢ Weakness: Thermal Exhaust Ports (Rear)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"They are armored against bullets," Elian said. "Let's see how they handle Tungsten."
Elian activated his Jump-Jets.
He launched himself over the crate he was hiding behind.
The droids tracked him instantly. Their turrets swiveled with robotic precision.
Bullets hammered Elian's chest plate.
PING. PING. PING.
His Void-Steel armor held. The Mark-IV Warlord chassis was centuries more advanced than these relics.
"My turn," Elian grunted.
He fired his shoulder cannon.
THUMP.
The railgun slug hit the center droid.
It didn't penetrate the heavy chest armor. It dented it deep, staggering the machine.
"Tough bastards," Elian noted.
He landed in front of the droid.
Metal met metal.
The droid swung its Gatling arm like a club.
Elian caught it.
His servos whined against the droid's hydraulics.
[ EXERTION: 95% ]
Elian twisted his hips. He leveraged the weight of his suit.
CRUNCH.
He ripped the Gatling arm off the droid. sparks showered the floor.
"Grom! Flank them!"
Grom charged from behind his shield.
"IRON!"
He didn't use his pike. He used his shield edge. He shield-bashed the second droid, knocking it onto its back. Then he drove his Rail-Pike into the droid's head.
KER-CHUNK.
The piston fired. The droid's sensor array exploded.
The other two droids focused fire on Elian.
His shield meter dropped.
Integrity: 80%... 70%...
"Lin! Hit the joints!" Elian ordered.
Lin popped up from cover. She wasn't holding a staff. She was holding a Void-Steel Repeater Crossbow Elian had made for her.
She fired three bolts infused with Fire Qi.
They hit the knee joint of the third droid.
BOOM.
The explosion severed the hydraulic line. The droid collapsed.
Elian stepped forward.
He grabbed the fourth droid by the neck.
He activated his Iron-Skin script, channeling the reactor power into his fist.
His fist glowed white-hot.
"System Shutdown," Elian growled.
He punched through the droid's chest plate. He ripped out the nuclear battery.
The droid went dark.
Silence returned to the hangar.
Smoke drifted in the red light.
"Is it over?" Lin asked, trembling.
"The welcoming committee is down," Elian said. He tossed the nuclear battery to Grom. "Keep that. It's good fuel."
He walked toward the massive Terraforming Drill in the center of the room.
He climbed onto the chassis and ripped open the maintenance hatch.
Inside sat the Core Processor.
A heavy, shielded computer bank.
"A.R.C., can you interface?"
[ Affirmative. This is my grandfather's architecture. ]
[ Downloading topographic data... ]
[ Downloading mineral surveys... ]
[ Alert. Schematic found. ]
Elian pulled the drive.
◤ BLUEPRINT ACQUIRED ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Item: Planetary Siege Cannon (The "Earth-Shaker")
⬢ Type: Artillery
⬢ Ammo: 300mm Mass Driver Shells
⬢ Purpose: Cracking Crust / Orbital Defense
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Siege Artillery," Elian smiled beneath his helmet. "Just what the doctor ordered."
He looked at the Drill itself.
"Grom, can we tow this?"
"IT IS HEAVY. LIKE A MOUNTAIN."
"Strip it," Elian ordered. "Take the laser bore. Take the tracks. Take the engine."
He looked at the dead droids.
"And take the guns. We are going to upgrade the turrets."
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 16:00 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: BASE CAMP ALPHA ]
⫸ [ STATUS: RETURN ]
The expedition returned heavy with loot.
The sled was piled high with "Old World" tech. Rusty metal, nuclear batteries, and heavy ballistic weapons.
Alara met them at the gate.
She looked at the Gatling guns.
"More weapons?" she asked.
"Defense," Elian corrected. "We found a colony ship. Dead. The crew killed each other."
He climbed out of his suit. His grey skin looked stark against the sunset.
"Why?" Alara asked.
"Because they were trapped," Elian said. "They ran out of resources. They panicked."
He looked at the bustling base. The Giants eating. The Deep-Kin working. The prisoners farming.
"We won't make that mistake. We have infinite power. But we need to secure the sky."
He walked to the Fabricator.
He uploaded the data from the Archimedes.
[ New Tech Node Unlocked: BALLISTICS MASTERY. ]
[ Project: SKY-SHIELD is now viable. ]
[ Estimated Construction Time: 3 Weeks. ]
"Start printing," Elian said.
He turned to the map of the planet.
The Federation "Harvest" was coming.
And he just found the gun big enough to shoot the harvester.
"A.R.C., simulate an orbital intercept," Elian whispered.
[ Target? ]
"A Federation Cruiser."
[ Calculating... ]
[ To penetrate a Cruiser's shield, you need a projectile mass of 500kg moving at Mach 30. ]
[ The "Earth-Shaker" cannon can achieve this. ]
[ But you will need a bigger shell. ]
Elian looked at the pile of depleted uranium armor they had stripped from the Peacekeepers.
"We have the material," Elian said. "Let's build a bullet that kills stars."
[END OF CHAPTER 32]