[Inaius] Shadow of the Archons

He stood still, studying the bony spines of support beams. They curved overhead, and held up the massive ceiling above. The stale air, the cold darkness. It fell down on him as a weight.

“He told us the wrong bridgeway,” Izine said. He could hear a tremble in her voice. The unknown place getting to her as well.

“If he was a faceless, then he had no reason to tell the truth.” Shaifur spoke and it was twinged with exhaustion. To be so close to returning home and have it snatched away.

The Shyanar twittered and chirped among themselves knowing something was wrong. Well, three of them did. The fourth, the darker one, she said nothing and stood by herself. Ibzu stood near Izine, his eyes glowing in the dim light.

Draevin lowered the light and shone it towards the archway they’d arrived by. There was a crystal at the top. Gray and dead, burnt out long ago. “We should mark this arch,” he said.

So they did. Shaifur put an orange mark on it. They circled the rings of archways, checking the crystals. They were burnt out. The center ring which had the largest arches, all the crystals were missing. Taken long ago when the Archons abandoned this place. The smaller arches were mostly burnt out, only a few crystals missing.

With that out of the way, there was only one option left. Find a way out of the room they were in. There were seven doorways arranged equidistant. Giant metal doors blocked them, their locking mechanisms on the other side, except for one which was ajar. The gap was big enough for them to squeeze through, though the door was stuck in place when Draevin tried to push it open more.

Shaifur’s horns got stuck and he had to wiggle his head to get through. Beyond was a hallway, similar to the ones Shaifur had seen in the Doom Engine. No hallways branched off, so for the moment they went on straight. Numerous doorways, blocked by locked doors, lined the hall.

Draevin tried a few at first but gave up when none opened. Twice they passed glass panels with lights twinkling behind. Some kind of machine, so there was still power on somewhere in the facility. Shaifur tried opening both panels to get to the lights, but there was no seeable way to do that, so both times they moved on. They went slowly since Izine was still recovering from her stab wound. They took tests when we she needed, so their progress was slow.

The lighter Shyanar took the lead as a vanguard, while the darker one and Izine took up the rear. The hallway ran on straight and so their only option was to follow it. That was until they came to a place where another hallway passed the one they were following. They were now faced with a choice: keep straight, or go left or right.

Draevin knew he had to make the decision. He contemplated asking Shaifur his opinion, since he was the closest thing to an expert at this point that they had. But then the lights in the hallway to their left came on.

They blinked in surprise and also because of the blinding effect of light after the darkness. The Shyanar immediately went tense, holding their weapons at the ready.

“Well that’s totally not an invitation,” Shaifur remarked. “Somebody obviously wants us to follow the lights.”

That was the same thought Draevin was having. And he remembered the story Shaifur had told of the mad robot that thought it was an Archon. But this seemed more inviting. And also, if someone had turned on the lights that meant someone had control of the facility somewhere.

“I don’t think we have much choice,” Draevin said. “And besides, I’d rather not keep walking in the dark.”

They headed down the lit hallway. More hallways branched off and they followed the one that was illuminated. A couple times they came upon doorways that opened up for them as they approached. They were led to a lift that started downward once they were all on it.

“We should be prepared for anything,” Draevin said. They all readied their plasma weapons, while the Shyanar kept their spears ready. Ibzu kept next to Izine, his hackles slightly raised. Even he was uneasy about how easy things were going.

The lift went down a long ways. They had little to do but muse on what this place was. Shaifur talked the most, his scientific curiosity getting the best of. Izine and Draevin only responded whenever he asked a direct question. It was Wyllu who responded the most in her broken Frondauric.

Finally the lift came to a stop. A short hallway lead ahead, blocked by a massive amber colored door. They started forward, and when they approached the door it smoothly and silently opened for them.

The room beyond had many computers lining the walls, and a single massive console at the center of the room on a raised platform.

“This is similar to the doom engine’s main command,” Shaifur said.

Izine climbed the steps to the main console. Draevin followed, helping her up. She winced in pain with every step but smiled to assure him it wasn’t bad.

The console was dark, with no displays being shown. But one light blinked yellow above a red faded button. Draevin and Izine shared a look and he shrugged. She nodded and then pressed the button.

“Hello,” a voice said in perfect Frondauri. “Welcome to the Helgadae machine works facility. I am this facility’s artificial facilitator, HEL-929. How may I be of service?”

“Unfortunately vast sections of this installation have been disabled. I’ve attempted to send repair bots to get them back up and running, but apparently their programming forbids them from entering an area marked as off limits by the archons.” HEL-929 continued to drone on and on about the status of the installation. Though his voice came across as flat but cordial, Izine had a distinct feeling he (if it could be called a he) was very excited to have someone to speak to.

“What even is this installation for?” Shaifur asked. He had tried to plug in one of his devices to interface with the computer, but the AI had warned him against tampering, and instead a projection screen had been lowered, showing them current operations status of the installation.

“Research and Development for the Central Authority,” the AI answered. “Though this installation is also capable of repair and manufacture for the Armada Magnatum, the main fleet of the Archon Stellar Navy. Ongoing projects includeded…”

“Hold up,” Draevin interrupted. “This installation is capable of building starships?”

“Indeed. It’s a completely automated process, and an entire ship can be built in a matter of days. There are over seven thousand designs for ships within my database, with a wide array of roles and classifications. Though unfortunately, the starship foundry is one of the sections currently disabled.”

Draevin and Shaifur shared a look of frustration. For a second it seemed like they’d happened upon a proverbial jackpot of technology for the commonwealth.

Izine had her own questions she was curious about. “How did you learn our language?” she asked. “All the other places we’ve been required Shaifur interfacing a translator into them.”

“I was listening in on your conversations,” HEL-929 answered. “It took me no time at all learning your language. It’s surprisingly similar to the proto-language spoken by the Prandaur, a race of genetically engineered pets the Archons were fond of.”

The projector screen went blank, and the scrolling status readouts were replaced by a picture of what must have been a Prandaur. It was a semi-bipedal creature, covered in fur with massive horns. Izine thought they looked kind of cute.

“Wait,” Shaifur said in shock. “These were Archon pets?”

“Indeed,” HEL-929 responded. “They were a product of crossbreeding and genetic engineering. The Archon prized them for their intelligence, problem solving, and loyalty. Nearly every household had at least one Prandaur in it.”

Shaifur pointed at the display. A strange smile playing across his face. He looked at Izine and Draevin. “Do you know what this is? These look exactly like the fossils of our earliest known ancestors. This is definitive proof that we were created by the Archons.”

Izine looked at the image again, and while she could see the most basic of similarities, she wasn’t really convinced. Had they actually evolved from Archon house pets? She decided she didn’t want to know the answer to that.

“When were these non-operational sections disabled?” Draevin asked. He seemed completely uninterested in the image on the projection screen.

“My internal chronometer has lost a fraction of a second for every century that has passed, so I can’t say with certainty, but they were disabled roughly two hundred and two thousand, six hundred and nine years ago. Give or take about fifty years.”

“Why did they shut it down?”

“There was an invasion, and the Archons were losing.”

“The Faceless.” Draevin stated.

“That was one of the terms used to describe them. Head researcher Kaparli aht Shun classified them as extra-spatial entities. They are a species from outside of natural space-time, likely inhabiting whatever layer of subspace that the starbridges pass through. Karparli theorized that the new generation of starbridges left a permanent tunnel, even when not connected, and the invaders used to enter our space-time.”

“How did they do that?” Shaifur asked.

“This is all speculation, but Karparli had a theory. A number of travellers disappeared after entering the bridgeways, never arriving on the far side. He believes they were dragged into this subspace universe, wherein they were turned into the first faceless beings. These faceless beings were able to exist in our universe, and anyone that they touched was converted to one of them…”

“We witnessed that,” Draevin muttered.

“...and thus they were able to swell in numbers and spread. Even when control crystals were removed, the faceless could still travel through the permanent pathways left by the new bridge technology. By time the Archons realized these pathways were still there, even when the bridges were destroyed, it was far too late. The faceless had spread to over ninety percent of Archon worlds. Even destroying the planets, burning off their atmospheres, or cracking their crusts didn’t stop the faceless. I am unsure of how the war turned out. No further contact with the Central Authority occurred after the shutdown of this facility and the destruction of the atmosphere of this planet.”

“The Aarchons won, I guess you could say,” Izine said forlornly. “Though at the high price of their extinction.” She then gave a very abridged version of what they knew, with Shaifur chiming about the recording they’d found of Kaparli explaining how he planned to destroy them.

“That does fill in some missing information,” HEL-929 said. “A subspace bomb of sorts collapsed the subspace tunnels left by the bridgeways, but the resulting collapse caused a reaction that created this energy field. You call it the maelstrom? An apt name. Though it’s a surprise that any life continues to exist within it, considering energy is bleeding into our universe from subspace. Though that gets me thinking…”

The projector screen changed again, this time replaced by an image of dots, interconnected by lines in a fractal web. Some of the lines were blue, and others amber.

“What’s that?” Izine asked.

“It’s every planet with a Starbridge. Or at least every planet once connected to the network. If the Kaparli’s device worked, and it seems that it did, all the permanent bridge ways would have collapsed in on itself.” The screen changed. The amber lines disappeared, leaving only the blue, which was a much smaller network. “The old Starbridge network would not have been affected, as those bridgways did not leave a permanent tunnel. That leaves these planets still connected.”

Izine stared at the network of connected worlds. She then saw some familiar ones. “There’s the commonwealth,” she said, and pointed out the dots.

“Those other ones, could they be inhabited too?” Shaifur asked.

“Possibly,” HEL-929 answered. “I’d need to connect the bridgeways to find out. Though currently all control crystals have been removed and destroyed.”

Izine had a sinking feeling in her gut. “So there’s no way to get home then?”

“At the moment. But this installation has the capability to manufacture additional crystals. Though that capability is currently disabled.”

“Is there a way to restore it?” Draevin asked.

“Yes. However, as I stated before, the maintenance bots for this facility are programmed not to.”

“We’re not programmed not to,” Shaifur said.

“Could you walk us through the process?” Draevin asked.

“Yes I can,” HEL-929 said, and this time Izine definitely felt there was excitement in his voice. “It’s not a complicated process, but the systems will need to be checked for viability and any damage repaired.”

“Then we have a plan,” Draevin said. There was palpable excitement now, knowing there was still a chance of getting home.

Shaifur and Draevin made their way towards a working lift. Brydleif, along with Meddozjem and Reodblom followed along. Ibzu and Wyllu had stayed behind at main command with Izine. Izine hadn’t fully recovered from her stab wound, so they’d decided it would be best for her to stay behind.

HEL-929 lit the way for them. They took only the pathways that were illuminated. A few times they saw a number of repair bots, little rolling boxes with numerous arms, going about their tasks.

The lift was similar to the one on the Doom Engine, but much smaller. It dropped down a long way into the lower chambers of the facility. It took them as far down as it could, arriving on a floor that was completely dark. The flights didn’t come on here.

“HEL says you’ve reached one of the deactivated sections. He won’t be able to monitor you past this point.” Izine’s voice came over a communication device the AI had provided for them.

“But we’ll still be able to communicate?” Draevin asked, staring at a pitch black hallway ahead of them.

“Yep. Nothing down there will affect the signal. And if you run into any doors blocking your way, just use that thing HEL gave you.”

Shaifur lifted the device up to show Draevin he had it, and had heard. It was a long slim cylinder, with three metal spikes at the end. HEL had informed them it was an emergency door battery. It would power up the mechanism of any doorway they came across. They’d still need to enter codes manually, but the device would power up the doors for them to do that. They headed out into the dark.

---

Izine watched their progress on the projector screen. A map of the floor they were on was laid out for her to follow, with five dots representing the two Frondauri and three Shyanar. She’d need to guide them along the path to reactivate that section.

She told them to take the third left, and then sat in silence as they moved ahead. She was sitting in a chair that a repair bot had brought in for her. Ibzu sat next to her, and she stroked his fur. Wyllu flitted about the room, looking at the numerous flashing consoles.

While she waited to give out the next directions, she asked HEL a few questions. “Did the faceless ever come here?”

“I’m afraid they did,” he answered. “Though the surface had been scrubbed clean so there was no Archons for them to convert. This facility had been rendered mostly inoperable, and so they used the still connected pathways to move on to new locations.”

“You didn’t try to stop them?”

“I was on standby mode when they passed through. By time I reactivated to begin assessing any damage, they had already left.”

She saw the five dots take the left and so she got back on the communicator. “Fourth hallway on your right,” she told them. Draevin responded with an affirmative.

She then continued with her questions. “And you’ve been alone ever since?”

“No,” he answered to her surprise. “A group of three Archons returned about a decade later. They went down into one of the disabled sections. I was able to track their movements, but they seemed only to have gone into a biogenics lab, then left again. I tried to query about their reason for being here, but they ignored me. They had all the correct passcodes, so I was unable to stop them.”

Izine was very interested in this information. “Do you know where they came from, and where did they go after?”

“They had come in from one of your commonwealth worlds. Horrathus. Though your species hadn’t evolved at that point. When they left, they took a different starbridge. Their destination was a planet called Khodes.”

“What’s on Khodes?”

“It was an agricultural world. Though that was two hundred thousand years ago, and I can’t begin to guess what it’s like there now. Currently it’s very close to the edge of the Maelstrom.”

“Show me,” she said, and the projector screen brought up the map of planets once again.

---

They came to a closed door in their way, and Shaifur used the power pack to activate it. HEL provided the code and Izine relayed it. With a hiss the door opened.

A great cavernous expanse stretched out ahead of them. A walkway plunged out over the abyss, it’s far end invisible in the dark. Draevin shone his light around, seeing numerous other walkways crisscrossing above and below.

He shouldered his plasma branch and took the lead. Brydleif kept close to him, and Meddozjem and Raedblom took up the rear with Shaifur in the center.

Their feet rattled the metal walkway and the sound echoed eerily in the vast darkness. The doorway behind them was soon lost in the darkness and the walkway went on. To their left a massive thing came into view, seemingly hanging in the darknesss. It looked like one of the massive Archon towers they’d seen on the tomb, only leaning on its side . It was certainly the same gray crystalline material anyway.

“I wonder what it is,” Shaifur said out loud.

Brydleif, with one of her rare statements only said, “Archon machine.”

Draevin activated his communicator. “What are we looking at?” he asked. “We seem to be in some kind of massive space.”

He heard HEL answer and then Izine relayed the information. “You’re in the shipworks. This is where the Archons manufactured their fleets.”

“So is that a starship?” Shaifur asked, shining his light against the crystalline construction.

“It’s an exploratory frigate,” Izine relayed to them. “Unfinished. The shipworks were shut down mid process.”

Shaifur whistled in awe, realizing that the vast empty space could house hundreds of ships under construction. “If we reactivated the shipworks, could we build our own fleet?” Draevin asked.

“HEL says yes. He could even modify their designs to better fit Frondauri physiology and cultural preferences.”

Shaifur’s eyes lit up at the thought of it. Draevin was also impressed. Here could be the beginnings of Frondauri space exploration. Though he doubted even these ships could survive in the Maelstrom for long.

They continued on, crossing the rest of the walkway. The door on the far side was open and after Izine gave her next directions they made for the power core.

The power core was a small room with a large device in the middle. Tubes and wires ran out of it and up into the ceiling and walls.

“Alright, we’re here,” Shaifur said. “What do we do?”

---

“And then insert the isotope into the reactor,” HEL said, finishing his instructions. “After that it’s just a matter of waiting for the power to build and for the systems to reinitiate.”

Izine relayed the information and then all they could do was wait as Shaifur did his work. She was still interested in the map of the starbridge network, and began studying it again. Some of these worlds were likely still habitable, and if their bridges could be reactivated they could even colonize them. HEL had mentioned that new crystals could be made here in the facility. “Can crystals be made that fit each specific arch?” she asked. “Or will they be generic ones.”

“As long as the pattern for that specific bridge is in my databanks I could make an exact duplicate of its control crystal.”

She leaned back in her chair. Permanent Frondauri settlement on new worlds. That got her imagination going. Ibzu curled up by her feet as she started to daydream. Wyllu, uncharacteristically, had curled up on the floor next to the big cat. She was losing her fear of the beast and was coming to even like him.

Eventually her daydreaming turned into actual dreaming, as she fell asleep. She awoke some time later when beeping came from the console.

“Power levels are increasing,” HEL said. “Systems coming back online.”

Draevin’s voice then answered from the console. “Looks like communication is back up because I can hear you now.”

“I am attempting to restore central command to that entire area.” And then to Izine’s surprise HEL began to hum a tune.

“I didn’t realize that Archon AI’s could carry a tune,” she teased.

“It’s not in my base program,” he answered. “But I’ve been running for a very long time and have picked up some new talents.” His humming continued, the tempo more upbeat. “I now have access to local functions. Security systems coming online. Deactivated alarms and added your companions to the recognized personnel file. Hmmm, it seems a few security locks have failed. I can’t control a number of doors and with power restored they’ve opened. Checking for contaminants.” His humming had now become faster, and to Izine sounded somewhat frantic.

The projector screen changed. The bridge network was once again replaced with the layout of the facility. She could see the five dots of her companions clustered together. But now three new dots had appeared, scattered throughout the facility.

“What are those?” she asked, knowing that it had to be something alive.

“Intruders had been trapped in deactivated sections. Door mechanisms were sabotaged and power restoration forced them to open. Checking bio readings against database. Cross referencing. Oh no. Oh no! Perfect match. Faceless invaders inside the facility.”

Draevin felt his heartbeat increase. The word hung like a foul stench in the stale air. Faceless. They were here on Helgadae. Shaifur’s face had gone white, and there was panic in his eyes. He stared at Draevin, dumbfounded, and waiting to know what to do.

“What is faceless?” Brydleif asked. She could tell the two Frondauri were shaken.

“The worst possible things,” Shaifur said, his voice shaking.

“Worse than plant monsters?” She asked. “You say, Phytodaemon?”

“Far worse,” Draevin said. He took three deep breaths, pushing the rising panic down. Now was not the time to let fear overwhelm them. He thumbed his communicator on. “Where are they at?” he asked.

Izine answered, her voice coming over the facilities intercom instead of his small portable communicator. “They’re spread out across mu;tiple floors. Two of them seem to be making their way towards each other. The third is heading away. I’m tracking where it's going.”

“Which one is closest?” he asked. Shaifur’s eyes went wide. “We’re going after them?”

“There’s one two floors above you,” Izine answered, cutting off Draevin’s response, “making its way towards a lift. If you go now you can intercept.”

“Let’s move out,” Draevin ordered. The Shyanar moved quickly to comply.

“Are you serious?” Shaifur asked in full panic, but he followed behind.

Without slowing Draevin answered. “There’s only three. I killed more than that on the Tomb. And they’re divided and we can track them. But whatever happens, we cannot let them get off this planet.”

Shaifur fell into a sullen silence. He trudged on along behind them, his eyes darting back and forth every time they passed a side passage.

“Brydleif,” Draevin called. The Shyanar hunter fluttered forward to trudge along next to him.

Draevin pulled out a plasma pistol. “Your weapons are useless against them. Ours work quite well though. So I’m going to have to give you a crash course in how to use them.”

“Crash course,” she repeated, nodding. “You teach me, I teach others.”

As they walked he showed her how to charge the plasma cylinder, then how to aim, release and fire. He went through every motion slowly a couple times, always stopping just at the last step. “Then you squeeze the trigger. The plasma will go straight where you point it. We won't have time to practice that part, you’ll have to do that when we find the faceless.”

She nodded, and repeated all his movements. She was slower than him, and more clumsy, but he saw she’d pick it up pretty quickly. He took two more pistols out of his pack. “One final thing, before you put your weapon away, press the charge button again, it will vent the excess plasma and return the bio-plasmid back to the reservoir.”

She took the other two pistols and distributed them to Meddozjem and Reodblom. They reached the lift shaft. “Where is it?” he asked Izine.

“He’s reaching the lift now,” she answered.

The HEL came on. “Wait for the lift to start descending, then touch the access mirror. That will make it stop on your floor.”

They moved into position. Draevin readied his plasma branch, dropping to one knee for more stability. Brydleif ran through the pistol operation with the other two Shyanar again. Shaifur stepped over next to the silver disk that would call the lift. He readied his own pistol.

“When the lift arrives, don’t hesitate,” Draevin said. “These monsters are fast. Don’t waste your time aiming. Just point and shoot.”

They heard the familiar sound of the lifts gears grinding. It was moving downward. Shaifur touched the silver disc, and then stepped back, giving himself extra space to fire from. Draevin heard him muttering a prayer under his breath.

Then the lift dropped down in front of them, coming to a quick stop. Standing right at the edge was the faceless. It was facing directly at them and all around it shadows swirled. As its face lowered into view its mouth parted, revealing sharp teeth.

Draevin fired his branch. His shot was followed by Shaifur and the Shyanar firing as well. But the thing was fast. It dropped low, rolling off the lift, every single shot missing. It rose to its feet in front of Meddozjem. Draevin swung his branch around as quickly as he could, but the thing reached out its arm, straight at the Shyanar’s chest. And its hand collided with her body, and sent her flying backwards down the corridor. A hiss that Draevin could only describe as confusion, escaped its lips.

It twirled around, slamming its arm out towards Reodblom, but then its head disintegrated in green plasma fire, and then it’s body went up in flames. Brydleif stood in shock, her plasma pistol still smoking from the blast.

“Well done,” Draevin told her, smiling. Reodblom raced down the corridor to check on Meddozjem. But she was uninjured. With the help of the dark Shyanar she stood up, rubbing at her chest where the thing had hit her.

Shaifur though had trained his pistol on her. “Stay right there,” he commanded. He then addressed Reodblom. “Move away from her. She’s going to turn. Just like Kruza did.”

But Draevin put his hand on Shaifurs pistol and pushed it down. “She’s fine,” Draevin assured him. “With Kruza the hand went into him. I think…” and he turned to look at the bewildered Shyanar “....that she’s immune to whatever it is they do. The changing process. Maybe they all are.” And his gaze moved across all three of their companions.

Izine’s voice came over the intercom. “The other one has changed its course. Looks like it knows his friend is dead.”

Draevin gave Shaifur a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. “Okay, Izine, which way do we go?”

---

“Any idea what the third one is doing?” Izine asked HEL.

“Not yet,” the AI answered. “But I will continue to monitor it.”

Draevin then came on, explaining his theory about the Shyanar and their possible immunity. “That probably explains why it's moving away from you,” she mused. “Running away afraid.”

“I doubt these things can feel fear,” Draevin said. “Though this shows they do communicate with each other to some degree.”

She saw the five dots of her companions move away from the lift, heading towards the fleeing faceless. Izine gave them a few quick directions, hoping to get them into position to cut the thing off.

“Oh no,” HEL said, his mechanical voice sounding as if it was wailing.

“What?” Izine asked. Wyllu flew up to the counter at the words, landing on the back of Izine’s chair.

“I know where the third one is going,” he said. “Looks like it’s making a straight run for the Control Crystal manufacturing plant.”

Izine leaned in and turned on the comm. “Did you hear that, Draevin?” she asked.

“I did,” he confirmed. “Just give me the new directions.”

“But what about that second one?”

“We have to stop them from getting control crystals. So number three is our priority.”

“Can they even get the crystal foundry working?” she heard Shaifur asked.

“I’d put money on it that they can,” Draevin answered.

“Even if they can’t,” HEL cut in, “there are a few hundred generic single use crystals stored within the foundry’s storerooms.”

With the decision made, Izine started giving them directions to make their way there. The five dots moved quickly, likely racing down corridors. And it was a race. She directed them to a lift, and they dropped down another five floors. When they reached the right floor it was a straight short to the foundry. And so they ran all out, the three Shyanar dots falling behind.

The faceless dot dropped two floors down a lift shaft and arrived outside the foundry. “It’s there,” Izine informed them, trying to mentally push them faster. “It’s inside. Looks like it’s making its way straight for the storerooms.

Draevin’s dot raced out ahead of Shaifur. Izine watched the projector screen, saying a silent prayer. The dot raced into the foundry and came to a stop. The faceless’s dot stopped and then almost too fast to witness, it closed the distance between itself and Draevin. For a second the two dots merged oget. She couldn’t tell if there were still two, or even who it was.

“Draevin!” she cried into the communicator. “By the Archons! Draevin please answer me.”

“I got it,” he said, relief in his voice. “The damned thing is plasma ash.”

She cheered and spun around in her chair. Wyllu, still perched on the back , hung on and joined in with her own chirping cheer. The chair came to rest, facing the projector screen, and she watched as first Shaifur’s dot , then the Shyanar’s dots, joined Draevin. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this much joy and relief.

But it was short lived. “The second one is still moving,” HEL informed her. “And it looks like it’s making its way towards main control. That lift it’s on will bring it right to you, Miss Izine.”

Sure enough, the dot representing the second faceless was steadily moving up a lift shaft that would lead straight to her.

---

“Is there a quicker way to get to you?” Draevin asked, the panic returning.

“It will arrive long before you ever get here,” HEL assured him. “I am sending my repair bots to try and stop him, but they don’t have plasma weapons so it will prove ineffective.”

“Draevin,” Izine said. “I’ve got this. I’ve got my bio-blade and pistol. I’ll have to stop it.

Draevin closed his eyes, tears of fear and frustration welling up in them. “You can do this,” he said. “But I think you should show Wyllu how to use a plasma pistol. They’re fast. The more firepower the better.”

“I’ll see if Ibzu can learn as well,” she said, good humored. “Too bad I can’t give him plasma teeth.”

---

“It stopped,” HEL informed her. “Looks like it got off nine floors below.”

“What is it doing?” she asked. She didn’t relay the information to Draevin so as not to get his hopes up. “What’s on that floor?”

“Accessing,” HEL said. A few seconds passed. “Three laboratories. A hydroponics farm. An armory. All of these are empty or nonfunctioning. Water controls for subfloors nineteen through twenty-eight. And ventilation control for those same floors.”

“Which floor are Draevin and the others on?”

“Subfloor forty-three.”

She pursed her lips, taking a moment to think. She was in the middle of showing Wyllu how to use a plasma pistol for the third time. This change in the behavior of the faceless was taking top priority at that moment. “What floor are we on?”

“Subfloor nineteen.” HEL answered. And then he realized what that meant. “Oh no. From ventilation control it can vent the atmosphere from these floors and suffocate you. Then it can take central command and vent the atmosphere from the rest of the facility.”

Izine didn’t hesitate with what she knew needed to be done. “I’ve got to go stop it,” she said. She stood up, grabbing up her weapons and was nearly out of the room when she realized Wyllu and Ibzu were following.

“We fight too,” Wyllu said. Ibzu just purred.

She considered commanding them to stay, but knew they wouldn’t. “Let’s go,” she said.

They rushed to the lift. She was still wincing with every step. Too much exertion would risk tearing open her wound. But this was the home stretch. Stop the faceless, get the crystals, go home. That became her mantra.

The lift carried them down. She stepped off the lift into swirling shadows. “I can’t see anything,” she told HEL over the communicator. “But it’s definitely here. Warn me when we get close.”

The three of them moved forward cautiously. HEL gave her directions. “I’ve locked the door to ventilation control, but it is already trying to hack the controls.”

“If they can hack the doors, how did they get trapped in the first place?”

“Without power to the controls, the doors can’t be forced open.”

Into the shadows they kept going. It got darker as they went. Eventually even the lights overhead couldn’t penetrate the dark shadows. “You’re getting close,” HEL informed her. “Which is good because he’s through the door.”

Wyllu gripped onto Izine’s hand as they couldn’t see each other among the shadows now. She didn’t know exactly where Ibzu was, but she could hear the soft patter of his feet on the floor as he followed. She rushed forward, despite not being able to see. “It has locked me out of the controls.” HEL’s voice seemed loud in her ears. “He will have control of ventilation soon. I am unsure how these things are so proficient in Archon technology, but nothing I do slows him down for long.” His voice was filled with fear. It was a strange thing to hear a program react with emotion. “You are at the door,” he said.

The shadows were even thicker now. She couldn’t see anything. It was pure darkness. She felt Ibzu brush past her into the room. She held her pistol at the ready, and squeezed Wyllu’s hand to reassure the trembling Shyanar.

And then she heard a snarl, followed by a crash and a thud. Before her eyes the swirling darkness broke apart, and light poured over her, blinding her for a few seconds. She shielded her eyes and squinted, and could just make out the form of Ibzu. He had bitten down on something which was flailing about. The Briekar was being twirled around, but holding on tight. As more shadows cleared, and her blindness passed, she could make out the slender robed figure of the faceless.

Ibzu had clamped down on its arm, and it was spinning trying to shake him off, while repeatedly punching the feline with its other hand.

“Ibzu get clear,” she cried as she raised her plasma pistol.

The faceless heard her speak and with a wicked snarl, its mouth opened wide and using its long sharp teeth it bit down on Ibzu’s neck. There was a sickening crunch. Inbzu made no sound, not even a whimper, as the faceless bit clean through his spine.

With a roar of anger and pure hatred, Izine fired her plasma pistol. It struck the faceless in the chest. She fired again, and again, and again. Green plasma bolts crashed into the thing and it went up in flames. Still she fired and fired.

Eventually Wyllu grabbed the pistol out of her hand. The fire engulfed the faceless, and the remains of Ibzu. It took a long time to burn out and when it did there was nothing left. Ibzu had gone straight for the monster, and his bite had disrupted the faceless’ ability to generate its cloaking shadows. He had given her the chance to kill it. His loss left her feeling hollow. Too many had died, and she wished they had never left Pendragost.

Kaob, Grand Prior of the Guardians, had settled into bed when he was awoken by an urgent call. The minister of the Commonwealth had commanded his presence at once. He made his way from the Citadel across the city to the ministry Drasul.

He had expected the place to be empty, the ministers having retired for the night. But the whole tree was crawling with soldiers and reporters. He wondered what was going on.

He was rushed through the crowd by security and brought up to the First Minister’s office. The minister was seated at his desk and he was in eager conversation with two Frondauri. He could only see their backs but their clothing was that of the Guardians and the Watchers. They looked ragged and worn.

But more interesting were their three companions. They were a third the size of a Frondauri and their close looked to be rough and hand-made. And on their backs were delicate wings like those of an insect.

“Ah, Grand Prior,” the First Minister said as Kaob entered. “Thank you for coming so quickly. I have just heard the most marvelous tale. I’m sure you know our two guests.

The haggard looking Frondauri turned around. At first he didn’t recognize them and was confused. Then he realized who the man dressed in the Guardian uniform was. He had been Mikraf’s star pupil.

“Draevin,” he said with dawning recognition. The expedition had at last returned.

---

Izine woke up, listening to Wyllu hum a tune. HEL had provided a bed for her, made by the repair bots. It was in a corner of main control. Draevin and Shaifur jhad left her behind to heal up and rest from the ordeal. HEL had assured them no more faceless were around, and that he had begun manufacturing some guard bots with plasma weapons just in case.

For Wyllu a hammock had been hung between two consoles. But the Shyanar never slept for longer than three hours at a time.

She got up and made her way to the main console. Taking a seat. Her wound still ached, but she was no longer at risk of breaking it open.

“Have they returned?” she asked.

HEL responded right away. “Nothing yet. It may take a while for them to explain everything to your government. In the meantime, I have been doing my own project.”

A repair bot rolled up with a container in hand. She opened it up and smelt a fragrant floral scent. It was a replicated drink for her engineered to keep a frondauri healthy. She took it and drank thankfully. “What’s your project?”

“My bots have been opening bridges one by one and I’ve been sending probes through. So far I have found three suitably habitable worlds located within the Maelstrom.”

“That could be dangerous,” she warned him and told him about their own experience opening a bridge and then getting attacked by a phytodaemon.

“I had a handful of military bots built and they are guarding the archways. But if what you told me about Special Consul Arsul, I doubt anyone else is sending those beasts through.”

She couldn’t argue with that logic. She took another sip of her drink.

“You’ll be interested to know that one of these worlds is Khodos.”

“The one the Archons that returned went to?”

“That’s the one. It is habitable by your species standards, though it wouldn’t be a great place to live. The Maelstrom has really done a number on it. I sent a probe through, but I don’t think anyone’s still there.”

“I didn’t have much hope for a lost Archon colony after two hundred thousand years,” she said.

“Me either,” HEL agreed. “I suppose it will always be a mystery where they....” He stopped. “That’s interesting.”

“What is?”

“My probe is picking up some kind of signal. It's only slightly distorted. It seems to be originating from outside the Maelstrom. Collating. It appears to be some kind of bio-electrical scan. Someone is trying to explore the edge of the nebula. I’m also picking up what appears to be some kind of communications. Tapping in.”

Static came through the speaker. Then she started picking up what sounded like voices. She couldn’t understand as it sounded very alien to her. HEL was silent as he listened in. She remembered he could learn languages by listening in. After about a half hour passed he informed her he’d written up a translation program.

“Do you want to say hi?” he asked her.

She shrugged. She’d already met the Shyanar, why not be the Frondauri to make first-contact twice. She turned on the communicator. “Hello, is anyone out there?”

Her message was translated and then transmitted, first through the active starbridge to the sensor bot, and from there through the Maelstrom.

Once her message was sent she waited for it to travel across all that space. Twenty-three minutes passed before anything happened. With a suddenness that startled her the staticky communications cut out and everything was silent. And then a voice came on. “...of the Sekari Empire. Who is this? Are you in need of assistance?”

Thursday
12th April, 2953
8:12 AM
SAS Sophia Curiosity-class Exploratory Cruiser, Imperial Armada Exploratory Corps

Stelios Peras was snapped awake from his on-the-job nap by his kalnarri colleague Arbus who set a cup of hot coffee beside him. “Sleeping on your shift again?” Arbus gave Stelios a look of unamusement as he wiped the drool from his mouth. “You can’t keep doing this, Stelios. Eventually you’re going to get in trouble and I won’t be able to bail you out like last time. You’re lucky you still have a job.”

“Thanks for the coffee by the way.” Stelios took a sip of the coffee and almost spat it out. He swallowed and stuck out his tongue in disgust at the taste.

“You know I hate plain old black coffee, man.” He complained, as always. Arbus just rolled his eyes.

“You’ve got a serious complaining problem, you know that?” Stelios sighed and turned back to the consoles in front of him.

The captain’s deep and aging voice came on over the intercom, “Any signs of intelligent communication yet, Officer Peras?”

“Nothing thus far, captain. I’m not picking up anything.”

“Alright, keep me posted.”

“Aye captain!” The comm cut off and Stelios relaxed back into his chair and took another sip of his coffee.

“I thought you said you hated black coffee?” Arbus glanced over his shoulder from one of the terminals.

“Might as well drink it,” Stelios replied, “I need to keep awake.”

“Whatever, I don’t get how you humans can stand that stuff. I almost died last time I drank that crap.” Stelios chuckled in response.

“-ello, is anyone out there?” A voice came on over the comms. Stelios sprang back up to the console and Arbus looked over in curiosity. “Hey! I’ve got comms traffic!” Stelios exclaimed with a tone of excitement.

“Check to make sure we’re not just overhearing someone else we already know.”

“Arbus, we’re in the middle of nowhere. The closest state to the 005 Nebula is too far out for us to be listening in on their shit. Notify the captain of what we found.”

---

Captain Anthimos Dellakos sat in his captain's chair as he listened to the message. Finally, this mission was beginning to bear fruit.

"Officer Peras, can we be sure that this transmission is coming from inside the Nebula?"

"Aye captain," Stelios' voice confirmed over the comms, "sensors indicate that the sender is located on a planet near the edge of the Nebula. There's life in there sir."

Dellakos sighed and stood up. "Thank you Officer Peras. That will be all." He turned to one of the other officers on the bridge, his first officer. "Get ready to send a reply and notify Cyrn of our discovery."

"Aye captain. Comms are open now."

"This is Captain Anthimos Dellakos of the Sekari Empire. Who is this? Are you in need of assistance?"