Days passed as we arrived at the Hyperlane Anchor. Marvels of science left by a long dead civilization that were somehow still intact after what seemed to be millions of years of use, some scholars believe they were made by the Vi’Kiiz, others think that they were made by something older than them. From what I understand, they act as both anchor and lighthouse, opening a subspace bridge between two star systems, effortlessly shortening the distance between them. The sheer distance between two start systems is unfathomably vast, they must’ve had Jump tech or warp tech before even devising the Hyperlanes.
“All hands, This is Captain Elana Vos. We’re going to be entering the Hyperlane to the Novux System, we’re estimated to arrive at our destination in 5 minutes. All strike pilots prepare to engage upon arrival.” The systems intercom system echoed, I took that as my cue to collect my things and ready for combat. My hazard suit in it’s stored form attached to my arm, my sidearm, “The Sunburst”, on my hip and the case containing the Photon Cannon in hand, I made my way to the hangar, I exited my room, Avanna doing the same, a similar bangle on her arm and her collapsible rod tucked away on her hip.
As we arrived in the hangar people were running back and forth, pilots preparing to launch as soon as the Seleucia drops from the Hyperlane, guardsmen loading into drop ships as Captain Telest flagged Avanna and I down to their drop ship. We all sat down in the drop ship in silence. The time it took us to travel through the lane felt like an eternity, the breach alarm rang out as we emerged from the Hyperlane, the shuttles holographic display hummed to life, revealing... nothing. There was nothing waiting for us on the other side of the hyperlane, not a ship, fighter or cruiser in sight. Just the system as it was. Omega scanned for every possible form of cloaking, nothing, not a ship hidden from sight at all. The intel was 3 months and some change cold, but it’d be impossible for them to have left the Novux system once the treachery was known.
Omega-5 spoke up over the intercom, “Scans of the system are complete, No sign of Eragus Crei or any of the other Knights. All Fighter’s stand down. Seleucia will be arrive at Novuxem in 2.53 hours.”
Everyone was on edge, but something didn’t sit right with me. There was no way in or out of this system save for the Hyperlanes and they’ve been down as for the last three months. Nothing left the system through the Lane we came through and that only reactivated recently. Which meant they had to be on Novuxem. I felt my blood boil, my pulse quickening, a fire in my chest raging as the only thought that filled my mind was putting Eragus where he belonged; In the ground, in an unmarked grave on some backwater tombworld next to a dying star.
We all sat in the shuttles as the ship travelled closer and closer to the icy world on the outer rim of the star system, some of the guardsman sitting uncomfortably, filling the time as best they can, checking their weapons batteries. Others eating rations to fill their bellies or just outright sleeping. I went through the countless ways things could happen when arrived, an ambush on the planet, a trap set up in the ruins to go off as soon as we entered, some kind of new cloaking technology Eragus had developed in secret. A look of worry must’ve come across my face because I felt Avanna’s hand in my own, as I looked up to see her. Her eyes were wild, almost terrified. That made sense, for all intents and purposes she was basically a civilian, The royal family was exempt from mandatory military service, but it wasn’t uncommon for princes and princesses in the past to enlist, Avanna however never did. I tightened my grip around her hand, as if to tell her she was safe with me. Her gaze met mine as she let out a sigh of relief, she was confident, but worried. A healthy state of be in.
The time it took for use to arrive near Novuxem’s orbit felt like an eternity, but upon arrival Omega-5 spoke once again, “Attention all ground forces, The Seleucia is currently outside of Novuxem’s primary orbital influence. Surface scans indicate heightened electromagnetic interference. As such communications between the ship and ground forces will be difficult to maintain. When the shuttles breach the atmosphere your comms will be limited to yourselves.”
“You mean we’re going in there blind?” a Guardsman spoke up, “What if we need reinforcement or orbital support?”
“The interference,” Omega-5 answered, “should clear up in about 3 hours. During this time The Seleucia will be preparing a second regiment to make planet-fall to provide assistance. I will now pass this off to Captain Telest to go over first regiment landing parties.”
Captain Telest began to sound off the operations “Alright, first landing parties are present and accounted for, Shuttles one through six, make your way to the surface, While on the ground we’ll be broken up into three squadrons, Shuttles 2 and 4 are with me, Shuttles 1 and 6 are with Ser Terrid and the princess, Shuttles 3 and 5 are with Lieutenant Krast. When we break atmosphere, Hazard suits are active and weapons ready we rush the entrance of the ruins and make a foothold out of the cold and set up a Forward Operating Base after clearing out any and all hostiles, Understood?”
A resounding “Sir, yes Sir!” echoed throughout the hangar, as if the communications link was unnecessary.
After Telest finished his orders the shuttle’s engines began to spin up, launching from the Seleucia’s hangar as we began entry into the most important mission of our lives. The pilot giving us the single that we’ve breached atmosphere, the simultaneous symphony of hazard suits engaging, encasing everyone in a protective ebony shell, guardsman drawing their weapons, the clicking of batteries being locked into receivers, the hum of the weapons charging as I opened the case the photon cannon was kept in, attaching it’s brace to my arm as the weapon took to its form in a matter of moments, I made my way to the rear exit of the shuttle, the guardsman looking to me hoping I’d give them some kind of inspiring speech. I had nothing to say, my mind was focused on a singular goal, the mission. Avanna seeing my focus stood next to me and raised her voice, addressing the Guardsmen with her royal tone as she did when we left on our mission.
“Brothers and Sisters, this is a glorious day! Today marks the day we begin our mission against those who betrayed the trust of the Empire, today is the day we bring treacherous blackguards to justice!” She began, “As our ancestors did with those who broke their oaths, we shall do to them a hundred times over!”
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The Guardsmen cheered and hollered, stomping their feet excitedly. The light near the bay door shifting from Red to Yellow, all the guardsmen getting to their feet, readying themselves for our greatest undertaking to begin. The shuttles jostled as the door opened and the light flickered green, stepping out onto the surface of Novuxem in our Hazard suits was like walking into a blizzard, visibility was near non existent, had it not been for our suits augmented vision, I doubt we would be able to see past our hands. The entrance to the ruins, an opening carved into the peak of the mountain was only a few hundred lengths between us and its entrance and a timer ticking down, we all made a break for the entrance. The near solid mass of snow and ice underneath us crunching with every hurried footfall as the shuttles behind us began to lift off, leaving atmosphere as soon as possible, to avoid any potential weather damage. The entrance to the ruins insight, still no life signs appearing on our sensors. One hundred-fifty lengths, seventy five, twenty, still no readings. I was becoming worried, even the most advanced cloaking tech had energy signature that could be detected, but there was nothing here. 5 lengths, if there were any hostiles we’d see them by now. Breach. The lot of us made it into the ruins, not a sign of resistance to be seen. What awaited us was far more shocking. The entrance strewn with corpses, while most of them were Ankarii, among the lot were some faces I recognized, Knights. Caylrix, Vennig and Yiholt, Lesser members of the Knights, but still alumni compared to me. The bodies were desiccated, but they all had a similar wound, even on the Ankarii, a neck wound.
“What happened here?” a guardsman spoke, “Did they kill each other?”
“No, they’ve all got the same neck wound. I think this was some kind of ritual.” I answered. “Must’ve died a month or so ago.”
Hushed murmurs and skeptical tones behind me were swiftly interrupted by Captain Telest, “No time for speculation! Guardsman, clear the area and set up the F.O.B, Double time!”
Time passed as we all worked on building the F.O.B, medics examined corpses of the Ankarii, they hadn’t abandoned their host bodies, the slugs let themselves die in whatever mad ritual this was. Atmospheric scans of the ruins were conducted by some of the engineers, while the rest worked on getting the communications array ready for use when the interference finally clears. I was carrying a few barricades to set up a defensive line near the south end of the F.O.B while Avanna aided in setting up the medical supplies.
The ruins were old, easily well over five thousand years old, some of the architecture was familiar to me, I had seen the same aesthetics in my mother’s notes and scans of her excavations and explorations. This race called themselves the Vi’kiiz, and from tombs and other findings they were avian in nature, about a full half length shorter than the standard Seiran, but from what we believed their plumage dictated their social status, the more brilliant the feathers, the higher up you were. They were also brilliant scientists, nearly every tomb found was so technologically advanced that every body was preserved in a near perfect state, and we had discovered massive data banks full of their technology and research giving us a jump start into our way into colonizing the stars, most importantly giving us the ability to manipulate the Hyperlane Anchors. Their manner of speech was a bit hard to discern at first, as a lot of it was spoken in concept, they referred to themselves with ‘names’ such as “Third of Violet” or “Caller of Azure”, except for those with black plumage. Despite their very obvious class structure, those with black feathers were strangely revered, not as a ruling class or anything of the sort, but they were always next to important figures in those tombs.
More time passed as we finally got the F.O.B set up, a second regiment of guardsmen arrived planet side. Captain Telest sent out a guardsman to relay information to a pilot to give to Captain Vos, seems that whatever interference was affecting long range communications had still not been resolved. The guardsman returned as the drop ship lifted off heading back to the Seleucia. Saluting Captain Telest as he reported on the next arrival of troops and explained that the Seleucia is aware of the communications issues. They believe that it might be something to do with the ruins themselves, which wasn’t out of the question but very odd. The Vi’kiiz weren’t ones to block communications between facilities, hell their tombs were connected to a communications network, but for this place to be blocking a signal was weird. The atmosphere technicians gave us the all clear, letting us take off our suits. No potential pathogens or large quantities of toxic gases. Desuiting was swift, as we all gathered around, Telest, Avanna and I began to strategize on our next move.
“I’ll hold the base.” Spoke Captain Telest, “I’ve already assigned a few squads to investigate, they’ve taken the western and northern hallways already, short range comms work, and I’ve instructed them to place signal boosters along the way when they start to lose signal.”
“Perfect.” I responded, “Then I’ll take the eastern hallway, Avanna, you’re with me. Are there any more guardsman who can join me?”
“None I’m afraid, due to the in ability to communicate with the Seleucia here we need to keep whoever comes down next to act as the base defence. You two are on your own.”
Telest explained.
“Well that’s unfortunate.” Avanna piped, “But I suppose I couldn’t be in safer hands than with you Terrid.”
"I’ll go it alone, Avanna, you stay here at camp.”
“Absolutely not.” Avanna shot back, “Our agreement was that I go with you on this mission, and if you’ll recall I won the Keren Tai. You’re stuck with me Ser Korvo.”
“Fine, we’ll head out as soon as we grab some rations and supplies.” I stated, before Avanna and I made our way to the quartermaster.
We filled our packs with the essentials, rappelling gear, a weeks worth of dehydrated food and water, first aid kits, short wave communicators and signal booster relays. I also got my hands on some extra extra power cells for my Photon Cannon and the Sunburst. Avanna on the other hand stocked up on Veil Dust. Veil Dust is a psionic stimulant, created from a mineral found throughout the galaxy, primarily near Veil Fissures, it’s basically raw solid psionic force that, when prepared properly can increase a psions powers as well as seemingly refresh their mind of any fatigue, it’s primarily mixed into water or fluids. I’ve heard stories of some psions developing a dependency on the stuff and extreme usage causing “psionic overloads”, by inhaling the dust itself.
As we set out down the hall, Avanna and I moved rather quietly at first, then breaking the silence with casual conversation, discussing our shared interests displaying her psionic ability as she leapt and floated over a massive pitfall, the two of us traversing incredible distance and making impressive progress over the last few hours, setting up the signal relay boosters along the way, touching base with Telest before breaking for a quick rest in an old room, what seemed to be a chemistry lab. Whatever systems were conducting experiments in it had long broke down and the reagents reached their shelf lives well before we arrived. Avanna and I set up our packs down and got into our rations, using some of our water to re-hydrate the food before digging in to a quick meal.
“I trust you.” Avanna spoke, after swallowing a mouthful of visihen meat.
“Pardon?” I asked.
“You’re under a lot of scrutiny and mistrust, not a lot of people have a lot of faith in you, they think you’ll turn on us as soon as you can.” Avanna explained, “But I believe in you. I know I can trust you.”
I sat in silence, finishing my food before picking up my pack and turning to Avanna, who had done the same, “Thank you. I know a lot of the IG’s and marines are just putting on an act, but I’m sure almost everyone of them is ready to put me down the first chance they get.”
The two of us carried on out of the lab we stopped in, delving further into the ruins.