Furthermore, the echoes and scans revealed were.. far too anomalous and revealed only hours had passed for Reaper Team but in actuality it was several days.

“Temporal Anomalies detected, Project Chrono-authenticating, access granted-what am I seeing-”

Alpha’s voice appeared fragmented and out of sync as she too went silent, confusing Specter One for several moments as he examined her, only to then realize she was fragmented into an Echo of all things.

“Specter? I didn’t know you had friends-”

Alpha’s Echoe dryly joked as she began to study her surroundings and The Installation in front of them..

“The Haust Conclave.. Specter care to explain what you’re doing here? I don’t imagine Ernest will be happy with you snooping around where you shouldn’t be? How about this, you and your friends ‘depart’ and I’ll pretend you weren’t here..”

Her words began to appear somewhat more suspicious, colder even, as if catching his hand in a cookie jar, leaving Specter Team stumped while Specter One scanned her.

“Due to a temporal cascade originating from Project Chrono, Alpha has suffered extreme damage. While she remains in my implant, she was cut off and forcefully left in the state of repair, leaving behind an Echoe from three years prior. This Calisto knows nothing of our mission, or of our directive”

Specter One alerted as he pointed his plasma repeater at her core, which was surely a surprise on her end? She no doubt wondered how and why he was meddling in this troublesome place..

“Then ‘allow’ me to humor you, and a chance to authenticate this strange fairy tail of yours before you get yourself killed?”

Her words were dry as she humored him further with her hands up, only to discover something was very wrong and remained silent for several moments. Evidently, even as an Echo separated from her core, Alpha could still at the very least put the pieces together.

And after examining the compound and Reaper One’s Nighthawk departing alongside the remaining shuttles left abandoned, it was enough for her to at least give his story a chance.

“I believe you.. and from what I can gather, I’m partially immune to the effects of Project Chrono. I only ask that you don’t blame the ‘future’ me for hiding things from you all, it was never my intention, and I likely couldn’t have known if not for the temporal effects forcing the matter”

Echo apologetically remarked before jokingly patting Specter One’s chest plate with some surprise after realizing she could in fact touch things now.

…

After clearing up that particular predicament, Roy would finally return with the cargo-bots having seemingly avoided what had just transpired. And to say he was surprised if not excited by the idea of ‘temporal’ anomalies until he learned the harsh truth.

“So what you're telling me is that these ‘Temporal’ Anomalies are ‘temporary’.. but can and will last longer the further you go? So we’re just going to have to wait and not move a muscle every time we walk into them until they pass? Theoretically.. what if we found our guys? And what if we don’t have a choice but to ‘move’? And If I find a farm truck can I keep it-”

Roy made the obvious but necessary points leaving only Specter One to answer them as ‘this’ Alpha was only recently given to him through her point of view, which could be equated by hours, and what she did know was that he had just returned after cracking a populated world.

Which left him with only Roy..

“Yes”

Specter One coldly answered, which had ultimately shut Roy up as it applied to all of Roy’s questions. He had previously dealt with the aftermath of several attempts of recreating Project Chrono, the only attributing factor this time around was the lack of intelligence assets.

“Calisto ‘Duplicate’, Specter Three”

His words were short, cold, but most of all understood. Specter Team were to remain and only Calisto’s ‘Duplicate’ and Mercer would be joining him. The others will remain to deal with the aftermath of the scuttling.

Roy for one felt especially disappointed he couldn’t tag along while the others were somewhat relieved but equally disappointed as the three cloaked and disappeared into the cold dark halls.

…

At the mile marker, there were no viable changes and inanimate objects that weren’t worn or held for that matter were left unaffected as the two placed their hands on Specter One’s Shoulders and proceeded further.

It didn’t take long for them to appear in a rather older equivalent of the very same halls, only somewhat luxurious & warm and not as barren or as chilly as before. The downside however was the matter that he was already ‘familiar’ with architecture to which they currently resided.

And sadly it met neither New Harvest’s or The Board’s Personal Tastes, it was a fusion of a luxurious hunting lodge of trophies and weapons, and classical museum of relics, technologies of not only Old Earth but The Golden Age of Technology?

Something The Curators were undoubtedly fond of as he felt something bump into him, that being a High-Ranking Steward, a Personal Enforcer of a Curator.

The Stewards could be considered the result of Rogue A.Is, those created by them or The Curators, who couldn’t hope to become Ascendant without outside assistance.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

And they, much like ‘many’ other A.I considered The Curators Gods, which was partially true, considering they were Ascendant A.I, Synthetic Gods of Technology born of The Golden Age of Technology and The Curator Uprising.

The Stewards were a mixed bundle however, The Curators viewed them as mere proxies or at worst interlopers.

They were A.I but nowhere near their equals, some were advanced, others were emotionally mature, and a large number were both allowing them a greater potential and chance to be chosen.

Those in particular on the other hand could only be equated to twenty percent of the entirety of The Stewards to exclusively take along as their supporters, enforcers, and their company.

The Steward Council was The Curator’s Shadow and inherited their hand-me-downs, and the occasional state of the art ‘trinket’, allowing The Steward Council and those exclusively under Curator Control were especially lethal in that area.

Curator Hand-Me-Downs were their decommissioned and vastly outdated ships they chose not to melt down later during The Golden Age of Technology, alongside equipment, weaponry, and anything used in that particular era.

Humanity’s Dark Age ensured the loss of a great number of technologies and the methods behind their creations making what The Curators viewed as mere antique trinkets in the modern setting all too lethal.

However.. The Stewards as a whole and many of their sub councils despite still remaining ‘potentially’ threatening, were nothing in comparison making Stewards as a whole a double edged sword.

Most major factions don’t consider those individuals in particular as ‘Stewards’, a sentiment no doubt also shared by The Stewards themselves?

A Steward could mistake an A.I they had only just met as a Steward, and now they were one due to a mere technicality.

This would naturally leave a bad taste in The Steward Council's Mouth as there were strict methods to consider. While Stewards who make use of these ‘initiates’ were either mistaken to be a Steward or something else entirely.

Those in particular were most similar to pirate conclaves or corporate infiltrators, making it a logistical mess no one wished to solve. As a result, The Wardens were born, a mix between humans and their own A.I Companions who deal in the criminal underground.

Be it Pirates, Assassins, Black Market Dealers, to even Private Security Firms & Illegal A.I Research at a Corporate Level. They also had their own Council, and one that was bizarrely more competent and dangerous, however much like The Stewards they had the same issue.

Of course, they did more to address it than The Stewards ever did on their own, but they continued to persist, while their sub councils ‘too’ remained inferior. However, The Steward Council made use of them nonetheless, and only ever through The Warden Council.

As a result, it wouldn’t be a surprise that The Warden Council had only ever truly needed to respect The Steward Council, and those directly under Curators. Resulting in Steward Sub Councils attempting to force their influence over them only to be ignored, leaving them to deal with ‘their’ sub councils in their place.

Which in the greater schemes of things was comedic considering as The Curators had never truly acknowledged The Wardens or ever cared to do so. Leaving The Wardens or rather The Warden Council and their corporate and private security resources only valued by The Steward Council.

The Curator Council wouldn’t even acknowledge The Stewards in any official capacity, in comparison.

In turn, The Wardens weren’t even acknowledged to begin with. The only situation they’d even be close to a Curator is if a member of The Warden Council was an attaché to a member of The Steward Council.

And to say The Curator wouldn’t acknowledge them and would wonder why The Steward’s ‘Pet’ was looking at them would be their only thought, and that’s if they even believed it warranted a thought to begin with.

Evidently, Specter One understood that the only unfortunate side note on was the fact alone that Curator Scientists and those who would reside in an Installation in the middle of nowhere would oftentimes call themselves a conclave.

It also couldn’t be ignored that there was a major ‘distinct’ difference between an ‘ordinary’ conclave and a named conclave, the named equivalent being far more ‘unfortunate’ to come across.

With that said, he ‘alone’ would uncloak as he looked down on The Female Enforcer and examined her insignia.

“Haust Conclave, Curator Enforcer? Pastora Conclave, Shadow Enforcer. Requisition Required. Project Chrono. Emergency Shutdown Sequence Authorization. Obsidian, Lilith, Priority Tempora. Watcher, Critical Condition. Rejuvenator Requested”

Specter One emotionlessly instructed, leaving The Enforcer to genuinely sigh after noticing his barely visible hidden black insignia.

The fact alone he was here, cloaked, and allowed her to walk into him, before he spoke to her in that emotionless manner, without any pleasantries, checked off everything on her list.

Shadow Enforcers were a difficult breed, and especially difficult to ‘talk’ to. Even more so considering who she believed his ‘master’ was..

“Authorization ‘Permitted’. Registered. Filed. Mandatory Marker Implemented. Rejuvenator Dispensed. Charges Filed. Will that be all ‘mister’ Shadow Enforcer? Would you like me to give you a ‘massage’ or fluff your pillow?”

Her words reeked of dry sarcasm, as she transferred shutdown sequence to his implant, implemented The Mandatory Marker, registered his presence, and dispensed of a Rejuvenator for his ‘watcher’.

That of course being Alpha who continued to reside in his implant..

As for the other matters, and The Marker in question. It was the equivalent of a IFF, Authorization, and Authority to be within this specific conclave, in truth however, Shadow Enforcers were tricky to track and to deal in any ordinary circumstance.

They would at times choose to ‘remain’ cloaked. These specific markers were born so as to avoid sporadic security reports, anomalous scans, false alarms, and everything in between because in the end The Shadow Enforcers were by definition absolutely bothersome..

As to why that may have been an issue, Shadow Enforcers were strategic weapons as much as they were diplomats, assassins, spies, and all around one man armies. If one wasn’t particularly sociable, that would indicate they were among the latter.

The issue when it came to Curator Security Systems was due to the fact that ‘named’ conclaves at least ‘try’ to make an effort to detect them.

While both were considered ‘Enforcers’ per say, Shadow Enforcers were on the high end of the hierarchy and for obvious reason. However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t poke fun at him as she handed him a rather peculiar curator chip..

“I’ll take your silence as a no. If you were to ever wish to inconvenience me again, I’d so very appreciate you ‘calling’ ahead of time. It’s only polite..”

Her words were short and ‘sweet’ as she walked around him as he removed Calisto’s chip and placed it in the rejuvenator and into his suit. Alpha’s Echo was all too quick to observe, while Mercer, valuing his own privacy, chose to disregard it.

…

After experiencing the fissure’s expiration first hand, they were soon returned to the cold, ‘barren’ halls. As Specter One acclimated his sensors and proximity sensor to accommodate the temporal anomalies, before going so far as to reveal he always had such capabilities.

Alpha’s Echoe, was especially surprised after learning he ‘knew’ she withheld this from him only to in turn reveal as much through Alpha herself. Even if she couldn’t speak or do much for that matter in her current state, as her thoughts questioned his own control over his mind.