298 Citadel mop up operation 1

"The device is somewhere down here, but we're unable to locate its exact location. Spread out and look for power signatures. Be on the lookout for Emergence stragglers and report back to me, Phillipa or Lux the second you see anything out of the ordinary!"

With their orders clear, the Hellwalkers split up into two man teams (and a single 3 man one) as the Juggernaut went back to the top of the dock to deal with the Emergence defences which were currently blocking them off from the outside.

"... So, how are you finding all this?"

Paired up with Solaris, Dax decided to start some small talk as the two of them remained alert and steadily walked while surrounded by the seemingly endless void which surrounded them.

"The what? Puking? I find that really tiresome, worst of all there's this really bad taste in my mouth-"

With Solaris being moody Dax quickly interrupted her by stealing a kiss from her lips in an attempt to mend her anger.

"I was talking about this world of technology and space travel in general, I can imagine it must have been pretty jarring."

"T-that it certainly was, but it wasn't as surprising as I had first thought."

Attempting to appear calm and collected, Solaris vocalized her thoughts after taking a second to collect them as her face was still slightly flushed red.

"With those documents about advanced technology we found hidden away in my sanctuary and the entire matter of the lost sanctuary on the moon, I started to realize that all this advanced technology might have been part of my world since its creation. That plus seeing how you transformed Kingstead seems to have lessened the shock of travelling to this world, still, everywhere we go I see wonders I never believed possible, even this place is stunning, I'm still not entirely able to fathom the sheer scale of it all…"

Pointing her flashlight straight up and watching how the cone of light slowly dissipated in the dark void above her, Solaris breathed a sigh in wonder at the sheer scale of the dug out underground drydock she found herself inside.

"All these wonders sort of remind me of that of my world, but unlike the vast churches and castles which no longer can be replicated, your world still remembers and is able to build all of those things in great numbers. Deep down I don't think that our two different worlds are all that different at their essence."

"That's archangel to you, puny mortal."

"Sure, I'll just refer to you as a half pigeon from now on then."

Staring down each other quite seriously for a few moments, neither Solaris nor Dax was able to keep up the facade as they both broke into laughter.

"... Tch, just when the mood was so great too."

But alas great moods didn't tend to last long, and as Dax picked up movement his eyes turned cold as he extended out a hand, the very next second a hail of rifle fire harmlessly reflected off of the defensive formation Dax had constructed.

"Begone."

Before Dax could get to dispatch the stray Emergence drones himself, Solaris' icy cold voice sounded out as the bedrock below the drones came alive and quickly devoured them whole.

"This is Dax, we just encountered weak resistance. Report in with status updates."

Doing his best to forget how furious Solaris had just sounded, Dax gripped his radio to report.

[Lux here, we've seen nothing so far, no sign of an energy signature either.]

Lux who was together with Phillipa was the first one to report in, from her bored tone of voice alone Dax reasoned that she must have almost at the level of falling asleep, so safe to say there was nothing (so far) in their direction.

[Ifrit here, we're in the same situation as Lux, nothing other than the occasional piece of scrap metal in this direction.]

"Okay, make sure Mare doesn't touch any of that."

With nothing else from Ifrit and Mare, all there was left was the 3 person group. But as they failed to respond, Dax's eye narrowed as he lost all expression on his face.

"... Terra, Lia, Alice, report."

Static.

"Terra, Lia, Alice, sound off please."

More static, intercut with slight interference.

Taking a quick glance at Solaris to find that she was already in the process of constructing a flight spell, Dax settled on a course of action.

"New orders! Everyone converge on Terra and her group's last reported position, weapons tight, exercise extreme caution."

Ripping off his eyepatch as his cybernetic eye lit up bright red, Dax quickly constructed his own flight spell before soaring into the dark void above, quickly moving towards the direction Terra's team went in.

-

Reaching the area Terra and her group were supposed to investigate, Dax quickly noticed something strange as he advanced. Although he wasn't relying on it, Dax's cybernetic eye started suffering from extreme interference, troubleshooting by checking the raw spectrum observed by his eye, Dax quickly realized that the area ahead of them was continually radiated by high energy electromagnetic radiation.

"Ifrit and Phillipa, switch to overwatch. Unknown interference in play, relay information via flares, all parties please respond."

Switching the magazine on his pistol, Dax ejected the chambered round and turned his pistol to the sky, firing 3 times and creating a pattern of 3 red signal flares which were soon followed by 3 other sets of flares coming from the other groups, one of which came from the centre of interference. 

"What the fuck is that?"

"Don't know, when we realized we couldn't contact you we hunkered down and waited for you guys to get here."

Finding Terra's group unscathed near some kind of strange ruin half buried in bedrock, it seemed to have been uncovered by an explosion, possibly originating from when the Emergence first took over the system a few hundred years ago. As Terra explained, some kind of strange radiation seemed to constantly emit from the ruin, making all electronics useless.

"... Okay, then. I'll go take a look at this thing with Lux and Solaris, everyone else, lock down the area."

Picking Lux for her knowledge of technology and lack of cybernetic implants, and Solaris form her knowledge of mana, Dax proceeded inside the ruin which seemed like some sort of crashed spacecraft, it interior consisting of long, cramped hallways and small rooms with countless strange artefacts, unlike anything Solaris and Lux had ever seen.

"... What the hell is all this stuff? Do you sense any mana from it, Solaris?"

"Not in the slightest, Do you know what this is Dax?"

Noticing how quiet Dax had been since they had entered the ruin, Solaris and Lux both turned to Dax who was busy examining what seemed to be some sort of altar or a console.

"Yeah, this thing bears a striking similarity to something I've seen before, the main control room should be this way, follow me."

Answering almost absentmindedly, Dax touched a series of the strange consoles surfaces before it suddenly collapsed onto itself and retracted into the floor as the wall behind parted to reveal another room. Silently following after Dax, Lux realized that he was acting strange, without anyone noticing she quietly disengaged the safety on her pistol.

Entering the next chamber, the first thing which caught both Solaris' and Lux's eyes was a strange, 5 metre wide orb made out of white metal which was engraved with complicated, rune like symbols, or ancient qiton scripture. Approaching the sphere entirely focused on reading the countless runes which covered its surface, Dax started touching a series of runes as the sphere spun around after each touch, as it did parts of the sphere depressed or sprung out from it in a strange, almost hypnotic pattern.

"That should do it."

Stepping away from the sphere as the strange jamming which it had been emitting on end for several hundred years on end finally disappeared, Dax finally took the opportunity to explain what was going on.

"This entire building, or spacecraft, is a precursor relic, just like the administrative AI it is made by the same race which made my race. As of this moment, this entire site is under information control level omega, no one outside our unit present here and Ra and Mu will ever get to know about this discovery."