"Initiating launch sequence in sixty seconds."

The synthetic voice reverberrated inside of Khasa's skull as she was making one last scan of the display before her, not that she had expected anything to change. Every little detail for the entire mission has been meticulously planned out to the second, with a heavy helping of the Empire's most talented Diviners. She looked around, the dimly lit room making it hard to pick out the aforementioned group of Diviners huddled around a large mirror display, talking in hushed tones as the never ending lines of runes and arcane propabilities scrolled before them.

Her job was - bless the Emperor - a lot simpler than that. She, along with her team of seven other Technomancers, were tasked with monitoring the magical batteries powering the various artifacts inside the Terramancer Capsule. That was the centerpiece of their work here, a gigantic, spherical capsule capable of transporting a single passenger, made entirely from obsidian and reinforced with enough magic to withstand the extreme conditions at the ocean floor on the faraway planet Roh. Once the countdown sequence concluded, the city's entire mana supply would be redirected into the massive teleportation circle just outside its outskirts, transporting the Capsule and its Terramancer cargo across the vast expanse of space, and onto Roh. Once there, the Terramancer, Herel, would work his magic from inside the Capsule chamber, transforming the frigid ocean floor into something capable of supporting the plant life of their world, and stabilising and assimilating the ambient mana environment enough to allow for more people and equipment to be transported onsite.

Despite him being central to the entire operation, Khasa knew precious little about the Terramancer. She had seen him maybe two or three times, a large and intimidating man, covered from head to toe in cryptic runes she could not even begin to decypher. He has only ever been seen hurrying from one end of the compound to the other, escorted by a dozen visored Imperial Troopers. Unlike his future work on Roh, nobody quite know what he does here, but nonetheless, he has his duties, and Khasa has hers.

"Initiating launch sequence in ten seconds."

The synthetic voice jolted Khasa back to reality. That's right. She has her duties, directly given to her by imperial decree, to be an instrumental part in the elevation of humanity. To think that a country girl like her would not only get to enroll in the Imperial Academy of the Magical Sciences, but to be handpicked for such an important project the moment she graduated. She allowed herself a small smile and quickly swiped across the display, confirming that all 327 mana batteries were fully charged, and the monitoring spells on them set to properly dispel so as not to interfere with the teleportation spell or any of the Terramancer's work after that. With a nod of satisfaction, she dismissed the monitoring interfaces, and brought up a visual feed of the Capsule itself, which on top of being grainy and unstable, was being taken from so far away that had she not been looking for it, she would have mistaken the massive 50 meter wide sphere for a smudge on her mirror. She barely had time to take in the lonely construct sitting in the middle of the empty field before the synthetic voice was projected into her mind yet again.

"Initiating launch sequence in five..."

"Four..."

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

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Khasa held her breath.

"Launch sequence initiated."

The lights in the room flickered, and died out all at once. The light on her display held out for a second longer, allowing her an unrestricted view as beams of mana as bright as the Sun shot straight up out of the ground, before curving inward toward the center of the magic circle, converging into a single point of energy. Then that too exploded upward, streaking straight up into the bright blue sky, carrying its cargo at impossible speeds toward their destination. Then the room was plunged into complete darkness, and through the various layers of earth and metal and protective magic, Khasa heard a muffled crack aboveground as the air violently rushed in to replace the vacuum left behind by the spell.

That's when the emergency lights came on, and with it an uneasy silence descended upon the room. A voice rang out, human this time, and Khasa recognized it as Director Lorik.

"Alright everyone, very good work." The man took a moment to clear his throat. "As you've been briefed, we are all to remain at our stations and wait for power to be restored. We will resume our previous tasks once it is fine to do so."

At his words, everybody seemed to let out a collective breath, and a mumur of conversation rippled throughout the room, punctuated by occasional laughter and a few slaps on the back. Khasa half-turned to her teammates as they too started a conversation amidst themselves. Rather than join them, she allowed her mind to drift toward thoughts of the future. What will her role be in the future development of the Rohian colony? Successive trips to the ocean world will be way less costly in terms of raw mana and manpower, they will be able to transport new colonists and the necessary supplies for a burgeoning colony, perhaps Khasa and her family will be picked to go on one of the future colony transports? She can only imagine how proud her parents would be, and the young ones would over the moon, literally. She felt herself tremble with excitement.

At this moment, the door to the hallway outside slid open, and in walked a man who Khasa has never seen before. He was dressed in full military uniform, with medals cluttering the front of his jacket, and the Empire's golden tiger prominently displayed on his visor cap. A group of Imperial Troopers streamed into the room behind him and stationed along the walls as the man walked up and addressed their Director in a gruff, authoritative tone.

"Project Director Lorik, your presence is requested immediately, follow the two troopers outside. The rest of you, remain where you are."

He then turned heel and walked straight out of the room, followed by a strangely meek looking Lorik. Khasa couldn't help but wonder if something had gone wrong with the launch, but what? If there was an anomaly, there's no doubt that they would have caught it, but as far as she could tell, everything had gone according to plan. So... perhaps a promotion? It's likely. But then why was he being taken elsewhere? And why have the troopers not followed their leader back outside?

Feeling a touch of worry, she turned her attention to the Troopers. They were outfitted no differently than any other Trooper she'd seen in the past, all form-fitting leather jumpsuits with infused steel armor laid on top, and a full faced helmet. As she watched, one of the Troopers brought a hand up to their ear, or at least where their ear would have been under the helmet. They then gave the slightest nod to the Trooper on their right, and all of them raised their weapons in unison and pointed them straight at her group of researchers and mages. She stared in complete disbelief at the one currently aimed at her forehead. It was a standard-issue, crystal-based mana refraction device. Even as her colleagues started to panick and tried to shove their way toward the exit, Khasa found herself unable to look away. As the battery started to discharge its payload, the crystal soundlessly drinking in the mana before directing it in her direction, Khasa found her thought drifting back to Herel and his Capsule. Did they give him a window? Perhaps not, as that would probably threaten the construct's integrity. But maybe he would be able to see outside with mana, seeing as he was supposed to be swimming in it right now. Not that she's ever heard of somebody being able to "see" using mana, but if anybody could, it would be him. That was a nice thought. It was also her last.