While the two girls made their final preparations for the long night, there were others who were also diligently preparing for the inevitable, having long predicted it. The time had arrived at last, and everything would be riding upon their success.

Mheridz carefully walked the halls of the Starlight Citadel itself, desperate to get in some last moment advantages before things abruptly happened. She knew everything counted on her more than anything, this was mostly her responsibility. What made things aggravating then was that she still had no idea where she was looking for what she needed, the stupid place was the worst maze imaginable. She could remember walking the halls of the place as a young child with her mother, but never were they able to figure out a path to where some of the most important places were hidden. Such things were always left to the scape of intent, like the very citadel itself had guardians that looked over its hidden treasures. That really might not be inaccurate either, and everything was coming into place for the doors to open at last. She needed to ensure that, once the doors opened, she was the first one through, that she could personally secure the treasure before it fell into the wrong hands.

“Ma’am, we’ve intercepted a bus travelling from the academy, as you had predicted. However, there was no one on board that fit the description you provided for us.” “Of course not, she wouldn’t be that stupid. She would be determined, not stupid.” “Uh, who ma’am?” “Nevermind. Was that everything then?” “No, ma’am. What we did catch was that there was a slight distortion detected during the bus’s approach. The occupants claim that it was caused by an instrument failure, which seems to match up with most of what had occurred, but void readings of the area had actually spiked for a moment. That wouldn’t be explained by equipment failure.” “Oh my, a cover-up, how genius. Yes, that is almost certainly a signal that the time is fast upon us. Ignore the passengers of the bus, they are most likely full of innocents. She wouldn’t have wanted to get them involved, not with such a great cover-up. Instead, I need more security up here, right now. Our thieves are going to arrive in the depth of the night. I need this place as tight as the fortress it had used to be. Just a reminder, no one is allowed to use lethal force, we need them taken in as healthy of a condition as possible. They are thieves, not assassins, just make sure that they are detained without access to any possessions. That will however not be enough to keep them detained, I need constant updates to provide in depth information for dealing with our skilled thieves. Keeping them unconscious is the only absolute certainty if I don’t have any further information.” “Ma’am.” The warden’s acceptance was enough for Mheridz to disconnect the call. This whole operation was complicated, far more than anyone else would understand. The thieves were perfectly capable of slipping out of her grip, but only in key locations. The most effective tactic would then be surprise attacks, ambushes and traps that they would not be able to react to. She just had to be careful, actually making them panic could result in a bit of void backlash, and having casualties would make things really messy.

Mheridz walked into the surveillance room, the entire architecture still as archaic and ancient as always. She bopped one of the displays, hoping it would offer her anything useful, but it remained blank and still. Nothing here would respond to her, the whole citadel simply continued to wait. She at least had her own eyes posted everywhere, the halls flooded with wardens on patrol. Even so, the place really was huge, and detection equipment outright failed through the halls. The very place itself was trying to work against them in everything, a fact that continued to leave her feeling very nervous. She was even fully aware that the citadel could outright turn it’s red glare upon them too, which is when things would get really difficult. That was an eventuality she was finding far more difficult to deal with, she had to make sure the thieves were stopped before then. Even so, she still had a long line of contingencies, countlessly layered. This was just the beginning, after all, she wouldn't stop even in the face of failure, not until she finally succeeded. However, against the full temporal might of her enemies, that would lead to growing problems that would only get worse. The coming void had to be stopped here.

Mheridz tugged on the silver bracelet woven around her wrist, a sign of her original pledge, marked with the emblem of an open hand, diagonally reflected. Even feeling alone in all of this, it was a sign she herself wasn’t quite so alone. She had people who counted on her, people she in turn could count upon. In certain cases, some of them had never met her before, and in others, she in turn was the one remaining ignorant. Of course, she hadn’t achieved everything she had by herself alone, that would have been impossible. There had been those who had given their very lives to ensure she was here right now. She was very certainly not at all alone.

Velvet continued to sit within her chosen office of ATA-LS, making her final preparations. A holo at that moment appeared before her, a report of a singularity detection just outside the barrier. No one else knew what that implied, she knew of this as the final signal. In a matter of hours, things would finally begin. Feeling nervous, she tugged on the pale crystal bracelet that adorned her wrist, marked with the emblem of an open hand, diagonally reflected. Traffic controls were already in place, the stage was already set, the actors would be ready to play their parts. She herself however worried that this may not be enough. Dealing with people who can command a singularity like this was no easy task, there were reports aplenty in how those involved were capable of using it to dramatic effect, like it was some kind of outright wormhole technology. That might not be all that wrong, either. The hardest part had been convincing people that such arsonists be taken alive for questioning, considering they were profiled as being so dangerous. Velvet knew that deescalating things at this rate would remain extensively challenging, but that was nothing compared to the problems she could otherwise face. A singularity outbreak was far more concerning, anomalies that would threaten far more than this.

“Mi’lady, we’ve got more complaints from service engineers regarding workplace conditions during our lockdown measures. It seems some of them have determined the nature of one of the devices we’ve installed.” “Service engineers? That would be more Hypertech staff, they would still be pissed off about everything. Idiots causing trouble. Sorry, sorry. I’m letting my composure drop, I’m sure you’re aware of how tense things have gotten. Tell them that we’ve got a hot tip that the place is about to be occupied by established arsonists with dangerous equipment. We’re recommending they leave all overnight responsibilities to nanites capable of enduring the high threat scenario, and to then return once the threat level is cleared. That should get the place emptied for a while, at least by most people.” “Wait, tonight?” “Of course. Make sure aerospace security is aware too, of course everyone knows how serious a threat to ATA-LS could be.” “I’m sorry, mi’lady, but there are still several who seem to doubt anyone would threaten the place for that very reason. It just doesn’t seem rational. Not that I would question your authority, of course!” The aerospace agent in Velvet’s holo call was looking very flustered at this, but Velvet let it brush by. This was not something she remained unaware of, a lot of people thought she was just being paranoid of her treasure. If she wasn’t so high status, she couldn’t have done any of this at all. There were also those who had grown concerned with the singularity traces detected, considering it implied a very advanced threat.

Her going story was that such advanced technology would need some rather advanced measures to polish, there would be a need of accessing ATA-LS for research purposes. She knew this wasn’t even wrong, but not for the same reasons everyone would then assume. Thermal plasma was still a great energy source, and obviously great technology needed great energy sources. No one was even aware that they faced a threat that could at worst be strong enough to simply end stars. Actually, it might even possibly be far worse than just that. At that capacity, a plasma relay was actually fruitless. What was more valuable was how this would be a gateway to something greater, a temporal flux that would mark the beginning of the end. She had to ensure such a thing did not get into the wrong hands. However, unfortunately, she knew this was not her arena, she would have to leave along with all of the other regular staff.

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“Mi’lady.” “Oh, right, you’re still here. What is it now?” “It seems that Hypertech is going on strike due to all of the unfair conditions being imposed upon them.” “Great, just what I needed to hear, more bad news. I guess they’re going to be out of office then for much longer than just a high threat clearance. They really don’t have anywhere to go though, so such a strike shouldn’t last very long. The ATA is too high profile though, we’re going to need to assign some of our internal staff to the project. Of course, I have no problem looking into things personally after the current problem is resolved, just ensure there are some competent staff assigned to the role by the time we achieve clearance.” “Yes, mi’lady.” This time the call with the agent was ended, Velvet giving an exasperated sigh. She knew why conduits like such an agent were always so nervous talking to her, but it really made it annoying to work with such people. There was a specific conduit she knew she would have to keep a close eye on for that night as well, similarly annoying. That Nick there was really getting intimidated at getting so much of her attention, too. Fortunately, keeping him so busy, it made the windows of opportunity so much more obvious.

It was with such considerations that, while on her own shuttle down to the surface, she noticed a notification show up for a scheduled booking personally assigned to Nick himself. Nick himself was basically a nobody, his regular routine was a roulette of random assignments he just got from generic customers. Customers were capable of booking their favourite pilots, although the wait times were then much longer. There was little reason for anyone to book Nick, specifically, but she knew what this would then obviously reply. The time had finally arrived, she had an exact window of opportunity. Being personally in flight though put her a distance away from her seat of opportunity to deal with everything, but she could still make this set work, the show would go on. She only hoped that all of the actors behind the curtain were similarly prepared as well.

Zxyd walked the halls of the Starlight Citadel, determined that this was his strangest posting ever. After all, it might look like regular patrol duty, but it came with some of the strangest of stipulations. After igniting another stray blossom he found in the halls, things that seemed to stand against the test of time, it was feeling more like he was playing a child’s game than actually getting work done. What in the world was the point of even removing such simple things? He was even told to keep an eye open for any strange markings on the wall, especially ones that looked similar to a crescent moon. This more felt like a stupid scavenger hunt, in all honesty. The only thing that made this much more than just a child’s game was the absolutely infuriating halls he was certain he had gotten lost within. It was good that he had no set expectations in his patrols, he was positive he had no idea where he even was. This place was the most convoluted maze he had ever seen, there was almost nothing offering clarity in his direction. His hopes at this point was that there would be a search and rescue process assigned to find him once this was all over.

The good news was that he was told, if they managed to actually catch the thief here, they would be given quite the compensation. More than just some extra Qeld to pay for their time, they would get paid days off in plenty over the next lunar phase. He was eager for the opportunity to relax, he even knew the girl he would be calling to make arrangements, an opportunity to catch up to what the other had been up to. By the divine, the stories he would have to tell her, stuff she simply could not believe. Stories like chasing blossoms sitting around dead halls, obviously not something she would have ever had to personally deal with. He still had no idea what he was expected to do about cleaning up strange marks on the walls, but those had thus far remained elusive, so they weren’t yet his problem. Exciting responsibilities like dealing with established thieves though, that was something he positively hoped would come to pass. Sure, there were some pretty substantial claims of what sort of things the thieves were actually capable of, but that sort of made things even more exciting. It wasn’t as if the thieves were dangerous, after all, they were only thieves. The types of instruments they were packing to deal with such a threat.. it almost felt like overkill. Getting a chance to actually use such stuff would leave him with quite the tale to tell.

“Oh, hey Zhyd. Wait, didn’t I just see you going the other way?” “Maybe? I don’t know anymore, this place is confusing. Did you find anything interesting?” “Other than some of our assigned blossoms, no. I really hate that part of the job too, the blossoms seem so harmless, they don’t deserve to be crushed to dust like this?” “Dust? You don’t burn them?” “Oh, well, I guess I could, but it wouldn’t make that much difference. It still seems like such a waste to such pretty things.” “How about we team up then. You try to keep track of where we are, I’ll stick to dealing with the blossoms. Sounds like a deal?” “Sure, deal. You know, I really need to redeem myself this time, and I really hope I get the chance. I had those two.. they were just there.. and I let them get away.” The elven warden beside Zhyd was the same woman who had first almost intercepted the two thieves back in the Obsidian Halls; she was back again in hopes that she might do better this time.

The two of them continued their patrols, keeping as vigilant as circumstances allowed. Zhyd pulled out his instrument for another blossom he found sitting at the corner of an intersection, somehow seeming to be waiting there. The blossom however was ignited into flames and was quickly no more. A bit further and they found what appeared to be a footprint burned into the floor, black scalds scouring the area around it. This was suddenly very intimidating, like the citadel itself was threatening them for playing with fire. Certainly though that couldn’t be true, right? He felt like he was going crazy just standing there, the compulsion to simply laugh growing out of nowhere. This terrified him, like terror itself walked these halls. He could swear it was true.

Nick arrived at ATA-LS to pick up his next customer, a conduit woman who was clearly some kind of technician, considering her uniform. The woman had the HT emblem on her coat, a sign she worked for Hypertech. Great, that explained why she was in the worst of moods. The woman had honestly stormed in and had decided to not sit in the private area of the shuttle, had instead decided to grumble within his earshot as he simply tried to do his own job. He knew she was dealing with some rough stuff, Hypertech really was a mess right now, but none of that was his personal fault. He had his own messes to deal with, he was still trying to make up for his own mistakes. That was unfortunately why he wasn’t in a position to tell the woman off at all, and had instead given way to let her do what she wanted as he instead tuned out what she was saying. It was unfortunate that she was apparently quite skilled at being expressive.

“Are you even listening to me? Seriously, you aerotech people are all the same, acting so stuck up as if you run the place. Are you sure you’re actually a conduit, you act as if you’re actually human or something.” “Okay, now that’s going too far. I’m trying to make stuff nice for you, to not cause any trouble, but you’re painting me out to be some kind of serious villain here. I have absolutely nothing to do with whatever has caused your problems, and quite honestly we’ve had to suffer plenty about the same too. In that light, I certainly wish you the best at getting stuff resolved promptly, because then things might turn around here too. Aerospace control has a noose around us this whole time too, and unlike you.. we don’t even have the room to complain about it. That’s the reason I’m not complaining along with you, nothing more. Thank you for being a voice to all these problems, and I wish you the best at getting them resolved.” The technician blinked at Nick’s back a few times, himself not having turned around once. He was still a good pilot, he always had an eye on his work.

“Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t be taking this out on you. I was just deep in my work back there, this whole situation is a shitshow.” “Why are you leaving your work behind anyway?” “Something about how it would be dangerous for someone like me to stay at work at this point. I don’t even know what’s going on. All I know is that I’m going to meet up with a colleague at the terminal so that we can figure out where to go from here.” “It works, I’m going to be picking up a colleague at the same terminal shortly too. Hope everything works out for you.” “Hey, for an aerospace pilot, you’re not bad. Keep up the good work.” “Letting my boss know that would help, but I guess that wouldn’t be fair. My boss is exactly who is screwing you guys over.” “Well, then I wish you luck with showing them what true talent looks like, they are obviously blind to it.” Realizing that they were beginning their entry to the terminal, the woman backed off to give Nick the opportunity to deal with everything. This night was so far panning out to not be that bad, dealing with rational people. He was going to meet up with yet another rational mind, making this quite the relaxing night.

In this pinnacle moment, everything across two worlds came together for this momentous race spanning worlds. The depth of the long night hit in earnest, and the race was on.