Getting to orbit might've been a giant leap on Earth, but on Avalon, it was just a space elevator ride away.
As the head of the Avalon, she has unrestricted access to every military industrial complex on and around the planet. Nya, with Kiva and Amara, along with about a hundred Jaegers, arrived at the top of the anchorage.
The head officer of the complex came to greet the group, "Um, greetings, Grand Marshal Crimson," he greeted awkwardly, he was obviously intimidated by her. "W-what is the reason for this visit?"
"I'm here on official business… which is none of yours." Nya said, glaring at him, "I trust that there is no problem?"
"Uh, n-no. No problem, whatsoever." The officer said, letting them walk by unfettered.
"Wasn't that a little harsh?" Kiva whispered to her.
"He was scared of me, I just used it to my advantage," Nya shrugged.
They took an on-site tram to the space dock, where the new starships were moored. Seeing them in person was a whole different level of awe. They were twice the size of a naval warship back on earth. Up close, they could make out the finer details on each ship that differentiated each from the others, like the mural of the Blood Angel along the bow of the flagship.
"Those are beautiful," Nya mused, "And they were just gonna keep them in dry dock for eight more months? Sad."
"Are we stealing this thing or what?" Amara asked impatiently
"Let's go," Nya said.
Under the guise of a surprise inspection, they boarded the flagship of this premier fleet, the Red Angel. The command deck was equipped with the most advanced technology available to Avalon. They systems were fully operational and the engines were fueled and ready to go.
"Alright," Nya said, donning the captain's chair. "let's take her out."
Kiva and Amara took the helm controls, as several other Jaegers filled out the other necessary stations.
The ship was unmoored and floated out of its docking bay into space. By the time the industrial complex was aware of what was happening, it was already too late to stop it.
The ship pulled away from the planet's orbit and entered free space. Using the light-fold engines, they were able to reach the edge of the system in no time at all.
Nya looked at Kiva, "Alright, do your thing."
Kiva lowered a strange circlet onto her head and concentrated, in the vacuum before them, a wormhole came into existence, a spinning vortex of gathered mana created by Kiva. The pull of the singularity sucked the ship in, before the wormhole collapsed behind them. They were gone.
* * *
The next morning, when Terror showed up to a summon at the Throne of Valor, he was met with panic. Council-members were arguing among themselves and their aides looked at a loss, even Mari was present via holo-comm already. The absence of Nya alerted him to nature of their current crisis.
"What's happened?" he asked, turning to one of the military officers that worked at the Throne.
"Um, Grand Marshal Crimson's gone." The young officer said
"And that means?" Terror pressed again
"She, along with Grandmaster Weren, Lt. General Amara, and a company of Jaegers, broke into the space port complex last night and stole one of the starships." Councilman Tao clarified
"And is that a problem?" Terror said
"Did you know about this?" Mari demanded, looking directly into his eyes.
"No, of course not. I had no idea what she was planning." Terror stated. "If she was seen leaving in such an overt manner, it means she fully intends to come back. I say we put her disappearance to the side, and focus on shoring up our defenses. We lost one ship, but we still have nineteen left, and Councilman Tao should hurry with his checks, so we can get those puppies battle-ready."
"Alright," Mari said, "in Nya's absence, you're in full control of planetary defense."
"I know," Terror sighed, "I was really starting to like being her understudy, I got paid and didn't even need to do anything."
"Well, she's technically been doing your jobs this whole time, now it's up to you to coordinate between the three Marshals. They'll be prepping to mobilize our defense forces." Mari said, "In the meantime, I'll be filling in as the acting Primark."
"Acting Primark?" Terror paused, "Mari, you're very pregnant!"
"I know, but no one else understands the constitution better than me, I helped write the damn thing." Mari said, with a rueful sigh, "How goes the progress on the orbital platforms?"
Terror held out his left arm and his band, the device on his wrist, projected a hologram of an orbital defense platform. It was a large satellite, the size of an office building, with one side consisting of outward-facing armaments. As a finishing touch, the crest of Avalon was emblazoned on its hull.
"This is impressive," Mari said, "Nya definitely put some thought in this."
"Yeah," Terror said, "apparently, all twelve will be at equidistant intervals, and can connect to security satellites to generate a defensive forcefield around the entire planet."
"That's inspired." Mari complemented, caressing her swollen belly, "How long till these platforms are completed?"
"Tough to say," Terror said, "Estimations say at least three months until the platforms are ready for deployment."
"I hope they would be ready before the incursion."
"I know," Terror said, "I'll see you at home, okay? I'll bring some of those sweet rolls you can't get enough of."
Mari gave him a look and he sighed, "and the sweet-mint ice cream,"
Mari chuckled, "Alright, I love you."
"And I love you too, see you at home." Terror said as her hologram vanished.
[Terror.] a voice in his head suddenly spoke.
"Merlin," Terror said, surprised, "you hardly ever interact with anyone but Nya. Is she okay?"
[She's fine.] the Prime said, [She asked me to reach out to you.]
"Why?" Terror asked
[She's worried about you might be in over your head, suddenly having to work without her support.]
"I can handle it," Terror said,
[That's good, most of the plans for the planetary defense grid have already passed, so you can focus on getting the platforms operational.]
"How did she know?"
[She's intuitive. She left a means for you to reach her in case of emergencies] Merlin said, [It's in her office.]
"Well that was helpful, sort of." Terror comments to himself, feeling the presence of the Prime leave.
Terror sighed, turning to a young officer nearby, it was the same one he saw earlier,
"Hey," he called, beckoning her.
"Y-yes Commander General?" she said saluting.
"Got a job for you," Terror said
"W-what is it?" she asked, nervously
"How would you feel, working for the Commander General?" he asked
"H-how can I help?" she asked
"First, find me a Jaeger, then meet me in the Grand Marshal's office." Terror said.
"D-don't you mean your office?" she asked
"I do not," Terror said,
"Yes, Commander General Quinn, I will see you there." she salutes as she ran off.
The office of the Grand Marshal at Cerberus Command HQ was technically a provincial office, since Nya wasn't officially a part of Cerberus. Her office was actually supposed to be a conference room that was repurposed. Terror sat on Nya chair, going through some of the files on the desk. That was when that civil officer he talked to earlier arrived with a small group of Jaegers.
"You wanted to see us?" the Jaeger sergeant said,
"Yes," Terror said, "first, in light of Grand Marshal Crimson's absence, I will be resuming command of homeworld defense and all military operations, and councilwoman Quinn will be filling in as acting Primark. As my wife is currently pregnant, I would like you to be in charge of her security."
"Of course sir," the Jaegers saluted,
"Also, in order to better coordinate our efforts, I want to be brought up to speed on all current Jaeger operations."
* * *
Creating a gateway into hyperspace was far less strenuous on Kiva now that she was in a vessel designed for hyperspace with proper equipment. The jump took the Red Angel and her small crew to the Nerian Cluster, along the fringes of Hyperion space. On the command deck, Nya, Kiva and Amara were going over the stellar-map.
"Okay, we're over here." Kiva pointed, "And this origin we're hunting is all the way over there."
"That's in the middle of empty space," Amara said, "who knows what's out there? We don't even have a comprehensive chart of that quadrant of space, or information on any usable jump points."
"I agree," Kiva said, "a single pathfinder wouldn't be able to navigate these hyper-streams on their own."
"All I hear is complaining, not solutions." Nya said, at one of the terminals. "And I could use the help of a person with both hands for this."
"What are you doing?" Kiva asked, looking over Nya's shoulder,
"Running numbers for a hyper-jump. Even with you as our pathfinder, finding the right hyper-stream to take us the whole way would be next to impossible, as you said. So I'm going to need to run some hyper-jump calculations by hand to narrow it down." Nya said
"You can do that?" Amara said
[Yes, but the longer the hyper-jump, the more complex the calculations get,] Merlin said, over the speakers, [So, I'm helping her program a jump set that should get us there as fast as possible without killing us all.]
After a few moments, she finished, "alright, that should just about do it."
Kiva and Amara looked at the vast string of numbers and symbols on the console, "that is some good work."
"Now plot a course." Nya ordered as she assumed the captain's chair.
The navigator did as she was instructed, plotting in the coordinates.
"Well?" Nya asked, crossing her legs, "Are you going to make me say it?"
"Initiating hyper-jump in 3… 2… 1…" Kiva said, as she put on the headband device and the ship's hyper-drive was triggered and they slipped through another vortex into hyperspace.
What is commonly referred to as 'hyperspace' was, in fact, an extra-dimensional plane where the laws of space-time were in constant flux, it was used by interstellar travelers to achieve faster than light travel and circumvent great distances. Hyperspace is composed of mana energy, which made it very volatile and unpredictable, which is why pathfinders, adept astropaths trained in multidimensional alignment, are crucial for navigating the naturally occurring mana currents, and charting the vast network of hyper-lanes, stable mana corridors that could be safely and accurately traversed.
Travel within a galaxy through hyperspace was expected to take anywhere between a few hours to a few days, however, traveling between galaxies would often take weeks or even months between jumps. As hyper-jumps are only possible through an elaborate and intricate system, ill-equipped ships have been known to be lost, or sometimes exiting hyperspace far off course from their intended destination if at all.
In hyperspace, the Red Angel was subjected to metaphysical forces as it crossed speeds beyond the laws of physics. Inside, the crew got to see entire star systems streak by in the blink of an eye, colors beyond understanding and other impossibilities as reality itself was warped around them. They were travelling deep into the unknown space outside Hyperion, taking them from the familiar well-trod hyper-lanes used within the cosmos for millennia. They travelled for hundreds of millions of liyes before they would reappear in real space, allowing the hyper-drive system to be recalibrated for another jump, guided only by Merlin's coordinates. As they would be travelling through foreign, degraded hyper-lanes and needed to tread carefully, it would take significantly longer than regular hyper-jumps.
On several jumps, they found the ruins of ancient alien constructs and the shattered husks of what had once been planets. One jump led to the discovery of a wild leviathan, a massive eldritch creature the size of a moon that roamed the empty space, long though extinct by the people of Hyperion.
They had also run into trouble on a number of occasions, hostile stellar creatures, and scavengers, but the Grand Marshal and her crew of Jaegers were more than enough fight them off.
As the Red Angel came out of its last jump, and was spit back into real space, they were travel weary and expectant.
What they saw surpassed their greatest expectations.
"Is that it?" Nya asked, her eyes wide with awe
"Y-yes, ma'am," the navigator reported, "Our final destination is dead ahead, right before us."
"By the old gods," Amara gawked
They had arrived at the edge of an alien solar system, silent and devoid of all life. Before them was shattered planet smaller than Earth, and on its largest chunk sat a massive country-sized complex that was visible from orbit. This small world was floating in the middle of a massive orbital ring made up of asteroid chunks, debris and what looked like the wrecks of dead starships.
Located at the planet's northern pole, the complex consisted of a central large pyramid gigastructure surrounded by four smaller domes, each as large as a city. A long thoroughfare connected each dome to the central structure, and each of the domes were connected by a large ring, making the whole complex look like a giant cross. Tall spires dotted the top of each dome and the thoroughfares.
Most of the planet's surface was covered by industrial framework, piping and other such infrastructure that stretched out for hundreds of miles from the complex. It even connected to the smaller fragments of the planet, holding it in place. From the largest crack on the planet's surface, the light of the core shone through.
"That is amazing," Kiva said, "the mana I'm sensing off that thing is incredible."
"Well, take us in." Nya said.
The Red Angel flew in closer, towards the central pyramid of the complex. From what their sensors could tell, the entire complex was completely dormant, inactive for an unbelievably long time. The station was made from a dark stone-like material and featured a gothic design aesthetic, with tall steeples and long corridors and rolling arches. It was a sight to behold.
Conveniently, there were apparent landing platforms and docking bays large enough to hold their ship. With the assistance of Nya and her telekinesis, as well as some Jaegers to manually engage the docking clamps, they made their way aboard the gargantuan structure.
Because of the unknown nature of the environment, they all had to wear Hostile Environment Suits, which were futuristic spacesuits. With a small group of Jaegers staying back to guard the ship, the rest of them set out to explore. The inside was expansive enough that they needed to use special rovers that had been prepared on the Red Angel to speed through.
"We don't know what to expect, so follow engagement formation 33," Amara ordered from the lead rover, the two other transports that followed behind gave her an affirmative as their gunners readied their mounted plasma mini-guns.
"How do you know where you're going?" Kiva asked Nya, who was driving.
"I can sense the origin," Nya replied.
They continued like that, making their way deep into the dead silent pyramid, and six hours later, arrived at what they assumed was the heart of the pyramid, where they were greeted by a very large security door, sealed shut.
"The origin is behind here," Nya said, getting out of the lead rover.
"I've never seen a security door this big," Amara states once she inspected the doors. It was at least thirty feet tall and seemed to be a singular mass that blocked the entryway. It was covered in alien script.
"It'll take us hours to cut through that," one of the jaegers reported
"We've got nothing else to do," Nya replied, as she rested her hand against the surface. She ignited her blood aura, forming several burning red tendrils that started digging into the large door. It took another two hours for her to rip through the two-feet thick alien barrier, cutting a hole right through the door big enough for them to pass through.
"This better be worth it." Amara commented as she proceeded first through the opening.
Beyond the door was what looked like a cavernous chamber the size of a stadium. The chamber was mostly bare, with a raised dais in the center of the chamber, where sat a perfect cube, twenty feet tall, with circuits engraved on its surface, glowing a faint white. This cube was surrounded by four pylons engraved with the same white circuits.
"What do you suppose that is?" Kiva asked Nya. Not getting a reply, she turned to see Nya slowly approaching it.
"Hey," she said, stepping in front of Nya, only to discover that, through her facial visor, her eyes were completely red and glowing.
"Spectre unit SΩG3-host prime, attempting to connect to primary mainframe!" she said in a hollow voice, raising her left arm towards it, attempting to touch it.
"What the hell? Nya, what's wrong?" Kiva asked, as Nya broke free from her grasp and approached the monolith.
"What's wrong with her?" Amara asked Kiva, "I've never heard a language like that."
"I don't know," Kiva said, "I think it has something to do with the origin."
As soon as Nya's hand touched the monolith, her prime crest glowed bright red on her back, visible even through her suit, the crest pulsed twice, as the circuits on the monolith also turned red. The glowing circuits pulsed for a few minutes, before they faded completely and a new symbol formed on the blank faces of the black cube,
{CONNECTION TO PRIME CREST ESTBLISHED. SYSTEM OVERRIDE COMFIRMED. UNLOCKING PROCESSOR DRIVERS AND ACCESSING CORE SERVESRS. ALTERING USER DEFAULT DIRECTIVES.} The disembodied voice of Merlin could be heard coming from the very room itself.
"What was that?" Amara demanded, now cautious.
"I think it's Nya," Kemi said, more to reassure herself than anyone else.
"Everything's fine now." Nya said turning back to face them and removing her helmet. "I've taken ownership of the origin."
[ALERT: YOU HAVE CLAIMED THE ORIGIN [GENESIS CUBE]! HOWEVER, THE ORIGIN HAS BEEN INCORPORATED INTO AN ALIEN SUPERSTRUCTURE… TOTAL CONTROL OVER ALIEN CONSTRUCT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED!]
"What is it?" Kiva asked taking off her own helmet.
[It's called a Genesis Cube; an origin cosmic computer of sort.] Merlin answered, her voice still being projected from the room,
"Then does that mean that this is station belonged to the Io?" Nya wondered
[Hardly, it's much too young, it's only about a few billion years old. This complex belonged to a race called the Praxians, it seems they used the Genesis Cube's immense processing capabilities as a primary processing core for this complex. Fascinating, their technology must somehow be origin-based for them to be able to access the Genesis Cube at all like this.]
"How do you know all that?" Kiva asked
[The entire mechanical infrastructure of the planet runs through this primary hub. I have access to all information stored within this place.] Merlin said,
"So, what have you found?" Nya asked
[Genesis Cubes have virtually infinite storage capacity and processing power, one of the reason's they're among the most powerful origins. There are hundreds of thousands of omnibytes worth of data here, all encrypted; it could take decades, maybe even centuries, for me to decode it all.]
"What's an omnibyte?" Kiva asked
[A unit of measure for the digital equivalent of a planet. Basically, it's how much information there is on an entire planet at any given time.]
"So… a fuck ton?" Amara guessed
[A lot more than that. After a certain point it becomes impossible to quantify exactly how much data there is, so it's measured as a sum total, like infinity.]
"So there is information equivalent to several hundreds of thousands of planets in here? Fascinating." Nya said
[Very.] Merlin said, sounding enthusiastic, [Please wait while I reactivate the primary power core.]
A second later, there was a slight tremor underneath them and all around the station, power was restored. As the lights came on in the chamber, particles from the walls swarmed around Nya, getting so thick that it cocooned her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Amara demanded.
[The entire complex is coated in these microscopic smart-particles called 'bytes'. I've reactivated some and am giving her an upgrade.]
Once the cloud of bytes cleared, Nya was now wearing a formfitting red and black bodysuit that was sculpted to her form and covered her snugly, leaving only her head exposed. The circuit patterns on the suit shimmered with every movement.
[This is a type-alpha biotic suit,] Merlin said, [I came up with it, incorporating ancient praxian designs and customized it to fit the base humanoid frame. It's made from a mesh weave of this smart matter. I felt it was about time you got some proper gear.]
"You should've told me first." Nya chastised the Prime,
[I wanted to see the look on your face. I've granted the rest of you provisional access to the facility; you can move about as you please, but don't stray too far, this place is immense.]
"Can I see the full history of this complex?" Nya asked, as another swarm of particles appeared in front of her, forming a screen construct in the air.
"Cool," Amara commented
"I suggest you guys get comfortable," Nya said, "We're gonna be here a while."
* * *
Elsewhere in Hyperion, far from that backwater galaxy that held the nation-world of Avalon, a fleet of over a hundred ships had gathered, each one was a massive warship.
Standing on the command bridge of the capital ship, is a Baron of the Xmilftien Commerce Union, Wes Lao. Dressed in the finest robes of the purest silks, with gold and jewelry adorning his hands and neck, he would forgive you for mistaking him for a prince.
"I'm tired of waiting for the situation to resolve itself. It is time I reinvigorate Josa's efforts to send me my mythril, personally," he said from his throne, "Set course for Draxia Urma,"