Even at light speed, the Mysteria system was a long distance. So the kids and Ace had lots of time to get to know and annoy one another.
In a room that resembled an egg, Ace and Asander sparred lightly. Asander was a skilled combatant but disliked brawling. Instead, he preferred to grapple. Ace hated grappling, mainly because he wasn't trained in many holds or submissions. He preferred landing a few well timed, and precise strikes to the weak points of his opponents.
This is why he felt for Asanders ribs closest to his lungs while he felt Asander cinch the chokehold he currently had Ace in. Once he found them, he drove his elbow hard into Asanders ribs, causing Asander to loosen the hold. Ace slipped out, allowing him to land several more blows into Asanders' ribs. Keeping his younger opponent out of air. Ace then struck Asanders, calves with a sweeping kick, causing him to fall on his back.
Ace pressed his knee to Asanders' chest and raised his fist in preparation to strike.
"Yield?" He asked.
Asander nodded after a moment and was let up.
"You fight kinda dirty," Asander complained.
"So will your enemies. Not everyone is gonna play fair, and they are definitely not gonna care that you're still a kid." Ace explained.
An alert sounded, which caused everyone to gravitate toward the cockpit.
"Mysteria. it lives up to its name, " Malreki remarked.
"That's one it's moons, Pulros." Ace corrected, then examined the coordinates again. "These don't actually lead to the planet but the moon. That's why Enzion sounded the alarm…"
The team gathered at his sides peering at the scan readouts of the moon below.
Neira smiled confidently, "No noxious gas, no structures and no life forms bigger than my knee. Cake walk."
Rip shook his head, "but where did the beam come from?"
Alessa furrowed her brows and took another look at the seismic readouts. "It's not on the moon…" she said slowly, "it's inside the moon."
Asander stared at Alessa before responding, "how can you tell? I just see seismic quakes."
Alessa pointed to the most recent seismic readout, "See that symbol? At the academy they taught us about the war with the Venratu.
The Tiberian army had trouble fighting Venratu forces because they would mine and create miles of tunnels. The Tiberian army would enter, get lost, then get picked off by the much smaller Venratu forces. However, the Tiberians adapted and developed technology that can tell the difference between mining and earthquakes. Using that technology, they were able to end the war with strategic bombardment which caved in the tunnels.``
Alessa pointed again at the readout right as seismic activity was recorded, "that's not an earthquake, it's mining."
Ace sat in the pilot's chair and brought the ship into orbit of the moon under cloak.
Upon landing he and the team suited up and exited Enzion by twos.
Asander and Rip investigated to the right.
Walking as stealthily as they while looking for signs of a base. They found a singular small metal door that seemed to open by sliding up and was automatic.
Asander and Rip stared at the door for a brief moment before searching for some kind of trigger the door to open.
"You think it's voice activated" Asander asked out of frustration and sarcasm.
Right as Rip was about to answer the door slid open to reveal two guards now standing
Opposite of the two boys.
The guards reacted almost immediately they both began to reach for their guns but before either could grasp their weapons Asander flits and strikes both in the jaw with enough force to knock both unconscious.
With a smirk, Asander half turned to Rip.
"The door was not voice activated!" Rip retorted as he stepped over the unconscious men, "why did you knock them out instead of eliminating them?"
"Because.." Asander grunted as he picked one of the guards up and carried him to a nearby door which turned out to be a storage closet, "I'm not a psychopath and I'm not gonna-" he said while pushing the man inside who then began to fall forward on Asander, "get back in there." Asander told the unconscious man who he then pushed back into place, "I'm not gonna kill unless I have to." He finished his original comment as he picked up the second man and put him in the closet as well.
Rip examined the door controls intent on jamming the door open so the rest of the team can enter. He called out to Darrec, "Darrec, can you hear me?"
"Ow." Came Darrecs annoyed voice.
"Yeah…you don't have to yell, dude, it's telepathy." Devika answered.
"Sorry, we found an entrance." Rip explained in a softer voice he hoped.
"The door was voice activated" Asander chimed in. Followed by a distinct sound of a blow landing and Asander exclaiming, "ow"
"Don't move. We are on our way." Ace commanded. It was rare to see him exert authority given how phadorians feel about being commanded.
While the others made their way to the boys, Rip and Asander made themselves busy by prepping things.
They jammed the door so it couldn't close on the others and through some tampering with the Security pad next to the door they disabled any alarms that jamming the door may set off.
Next, they took point on each side of the hallway and held their position.