C489 Drills
The ship's scanners had told Khan how violent Honides' weather was. The winds at that altitude could almost lift cars, and the metals they carried made them dangerous for the engines.
That quality only involved specific gales. Honides wasn't as plain as Nippe 2. It had many elements and features, especially in its atmosphere.
According to the scanners, the ship only had to descend a bit more to get past those metallic winds. A hundred meters would have been enough to bring it into areas it could cross. However, going against that initial layer would create a threat that Khan couldn't afford.
Ordinary soldiers would have to wait for the surface to send special ships or for the weather to calm down. Even Khan would have opted for those approaches under normal circumstances. Waiting wasn't a big issue, all things considered, but that would go against his main goal.
The entire Global Army knew that Khan was more than ordinary, but he had to step it up. To use the Headmistress' words, he had to become larger than life, which required inhumane feats.
Khan kept his eyes closed while the winds absorbed him in their violence. He could barely move, and the high speed threatened to turn his insides into a bloody pulp. Metal shards also surrounded him, but the symphony shone in his mind.
The winds were a mess that only advanced technology could predict, but Khan was an exception. The tremors, lights, and general atmosphere created a scene that Khan felt able to navigate. His mana even cheered at that chaos, but he spoke to himself before that energy could.
'Flow,' Khan thought, almost ordering his whole being to become one with the symphony and pursue his personal goals.
Khan's eardrums threatened to explode, and a couple of his uniform's buttons flew away, but he saw only the bigger picture. His mana made sure of that, and its intensity almost suppressed the chaos outside.
Survival instincts and resolve fused to give birth to a powerful reaction. Khan was trapped but felt stronger than ever. Everything grew clearer, and confidence flowed through his body. Somehow, he knew what to do and how to accomplish it.
Getting out of the rivers of metal shards was the priority, but harsh movements would turn that rubble into sharp knives. Khan had to go along with it until an opportunity showed itself.
Of course, that plan didn't stop Khan from affecting his trajectory. He had to reach cold, descending winds, which his senses had already highlighted. Moreover, there was more than one gale around him, so he used slow and faint ankle movements to dive into those that suited him.
Diving wasn't the exact word either. Khan wasn't pushing himself into specific gales. He was only tilting and slightly moving his figure so that those winds would absorb him.
The process was slow, and the storm never failed to mess up Khan's balance. He rolled wildly, lost his foothold multiple times, and even held his breath during the most violent phases, but his plan always moved forward.
After what felt like an eternity, Khan arrived at the bottom of the metallic layer. He was still one with it, flowing across Honides' atmosphere according to its momentum, but an escape route existed below him.
Khan didn't hesitate. He leaned backward and used the gale to apply a spinning motion to his body. The metal shards threatened to stab him at that point, but he kicked the air and unleashed his mana before any of them could cross his uniform.
A crackling growl resounded in Khan's closed mouth as his mana expanded in every direction, protecting him from the debris. Meanwhile, his body dived through a few gales, bringing him into equally violent winds that didn't carry any danger.
Khan fell prey to the storm again, but a chunk of his tension disappeared. He had crossed the main danger. The surface was quite distant, and a few threats still existed, but the hard part was over.
The wind's violence prevented Khan from diving straight toward the surface. He still had to alternate between flowing and altering his course, but the lack of metal shards allowed him to perform sharper movements.
The descent proceeded smoothly for a few minutes, but small yellow dots appeared in that otherwise brown symphony. A few flew in Khan's direction, threatening to converge on him, but he had expected a similar event.
Honides' storms never ceased. They only calmed down. A similarly chaotic environment would usually make the planet uninhabitable, but life had triumphed with the help of mana.
One yellow dot grew close enough to pass right next to Khan, but the winds protected him. He only heard a faint screech while a gale carried that threat away.
Instead, a second yellow dot managed to jump on the right gale and head directly toward Khan, but fingers closed around it before the impact. Khan trapped the threat in his firm grip, and clearer screeches reached his ears during the squirming on his palm.
'So, this is a Viliet,' Khan thought as his senses and studies about Honides gave him a complete picture of the Tainted animal in his grip.
Honides' harsh environment had pushed its fauna toward smaller shapes that could avoid fighting the storms, and the Viliet were a perfect example of that. They were small and almost flat fish-like animals with flexible insides that allowed them to survive the winds. Only their teeth were sharp and firm, and they used them to change their course.
That small shape obviously had weaknesses. The Viliet had evolved to survive and eat the winds, so nothing in their bodies made them capable of fighting off Khan. The captured specimen was as strong as a first-level warrior, but he only had to tighten his grasp to pop it like a balloon.
The blood that splashed on Khan's hand and face instantly dried up due to the storm, and he even let go of the corpse while continuing his descent. More yellow dots filled the symphony, and a few threatened to reach him, but he barely minded them. He had left his knife in the Harbor, but his bare hands were enough for those Tainted animals.
The relatively easy descent allowed Khan's thoughts to reappear. He didn't need to focus so heavily on the symphony or his mana anymore, so his mind wandered a bit.
Khan was no idiot. He knew that his gesture had been beyond reckless, but the strength that flowed through his body almost justified his actions. That unusual confidence made him feel whole as if he had unlocked something he didn't previously own.
It took some thinking and introspection to find answers. Khan had to acknowledge that the Harbor had never given him a chance to be completely unleashed. Even Nippe 2's events had gone against his priorities since he had to leave his friends to save the Princess.
Instead, the current mission allowed Khan's sides to gather under the same banner. He wasn't only traveling and facing dangers out of curiosity and desire to fight. He was also doing his best for his relationship, creating a powerful mixture between his innate inclinations and feelings.
Using all his abilities and power for the benefit of love was Khan's best expression of himself. His mana cheered, a sense of fulfillment invaded his feelings, and pure confidence filled him to bring his strengths to their peak.
Some minutes and a few Viliet later, Khan crashed on all fours on a firm surface. His eyes remained closed, but moving his hands on that layer and listening to the symphony revealed his position. The storm was still blowing, but he had reached the ground.
Khan forced himself to stand up but remained partially crouched to let his senses run freely. He had long since lost track of his position, but the symphony carried traces of his destination, and the many winds marked by it told him where to go.
The winds hindered Khan's advance, but he staggered forward, keeping an arm in front of his eyes to give his eyelids some rest. Dust blew on him, and faint tremors ran through the rocky ground, but his steps never halted. Nothing could stop him when his mind, feelings, and body were one.
The tremors grew stronger during the advance. They never turned into a proper earthquake, but Khan felt them anyway. Moreover, a loud siren eventually made its way through the deafening winds, helping Khan pinpoint his exact destination.
'They must have found me,' Khan realized, and confirmation arrived a few minutes later. The symphony brought him before an immense structure reeking of synthetic mana, and following the siren made him find an open gate.
Clanging and whooshing noises resounded while the gate closed and the siren stopped, eventually bringing some blissful silence. The tall door blocked the winds, isolating Khan inside a metal room. He could finally wipe his face and open his eyes, but the lack of illumination kept him in the dark.
The darkness and silence didn't last long since a second gate opened, showing the structure's insides. Khan had to clap his hands and rub his eyes some more to get rid of all the dirt, but the vast environment eventually fell into his view.
A spacious hall unfolded from the second gate. Khan saw multiple consoles, staircases, and intermediate floors around a tall transparent container full of white crystals. Shocked soldiers had also gathered before that entrance, and Khan's cough made them snap out of their amazement to perform military salutes.
"Welcome to Honides, Captain Khan!" The soldiers shouted simultaneously.
Truth be told, the soldiers didn't recognize Khan. They simply couldn't with all the dust that had accumulated on him. Even his skin had turned grey due to that amount of dirt. Still, there was only one person currently on Honides capable of performing that landing.
Khan ruffled his hair and scratched his ears to remove more dust, but one voice among the group attracted his attention. He quickly pointed his eyes at a middle-aged man with messy brown hair, and his question made the soldier pale. "Richard?"
The man froze. He had only exchanged a few lines with Khan, but they had not been too polite. They had not been rude either, but Khan's current state, incredible landing, and the rough voice caused by the storms terrified him.
"Y-yes, sir!" Richard eventually managed to muster out of his mouth, even if his voice grew loud only toward the end.
"Prepare a ship for my departure," Khan promptly ordered, patting his uniform to remove even more dirt. "You only need to bring me back to my ride."
"B-but, sir," Richard stuttered again, "With Honides' current weather, we might lose track of your ship."
"Right," Khan exclaimed, sending a hand inside his underwear to take out his phone. "I'm still connected to my ship. You can use this to track it down."
Khan expected some hesitation when he handed his phone to the closest soldier. After all, he didn't store it in the cleanest place in the world. Yet, the man immediately seized it before hurrying toward one of the consoles.
The event made Khan realize how impactful his landing had been. The soldiers weren't only in awe of his prowess. They also felt some disbelief, which brought proper fear. Somehow, the group failed to see Khan as a fellow human.
"Alright," Khan announced, avoiding wasting even more time. "Richard, show me this wall."
"Yes, sir!" Richard finally spoke in a firm tone. "This way, please."
The soldiers moved away and retained their military salutes while Khan walked past them. No one dared to speak or falter in his presence. Honides had people capable of matching Khan's rank, but the landing had turned him into the most important figure in their eyes.
Richard hurried toward a passage on the other side of the vast hall but slowed down when he realized that Khan was showing some curiosity toward the huge container. Those white crystals shone on their own, and Khan seemed able to look past their bright surfaces.
'They really contain natural mana,' Khan could barely hide his surprise. The entire hall reeked of synthetic mana, but he found the natural version of that energy inside those crystals.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Richard asked after approaching Khan to join him in his inspection of the crystals.
"Achite," Khan commented. "Mana in the form of minerals."
"I didn't know you had an interest in minerals, sir," Richard exclaimed, trying to make his words sound like praises.
"I don't," Khan admitted, "But seeing them in person gives a different effect."
"Achite," Richard nodded, "Or white gold. It's probably the most valuable resource of this system."
"I heard extracting the mana inside is quite expensive," Khan voiced.
"These crystals look pure," Richard explained, "But they gather many toxic substances during their formation. Simply breaking them wouldn't do."
Khan didn't need that explanation. Even his studies for the mission felt superfluous since his eyes were enough to uncover those secrets. He could see that the mana inside the crystals had gained an opaque color due to the long tampering it underwent.
"Let's go," Khan eventually ordered, diverting his gaze to head toward Richard's previous destination. The latter wanted to add something but felt forced to follow.
A series of corridors and a few halls unfolded from the container area, and Richard led Khan across them until a muffled grinding noise filled the structure. The two walked for a few more minutes, and the source of the tremors felt before eventually became clear.
One of the corridors featured transparent windows pointed at an immense machine with four huge legs that kept it above a vast hole. A giant drill even stretched from it, diving deeper and deeper into the black ground while taking out dirt and other materials.
"Does it ever stop?" Khan asked when he was about to cross the last window.
"Rarely, sir," Richard revealed, "And that's not the only one on Honides. This plant alone has three main drills, which stop digging only when they find something."
Khan fell silent. He had already studied most of that, and his mission didn't require great knowledge anyway. Yet, Richard felt awkward while their steps resounded on the metal floor, and doubts soon left his mouth.
"Sir, if I may," Richard cleared his throat. "While I'm ecstatic about this chance to meet you, there was no need for such urgency. The new drill is set to arrive in two months."
"Mister Nore wants his alloys," Khan declared. "He isn't willing to wait two months plus delivery."
"But, sir," Richard continued. "This job is beneath you."
"And yet," Khan casually replied, "I'm the only one who can accomplish it in such a short time."
Richard was timidly looking for Khan's eyes, but the latter never paid him attention. Khan only wanted to get the job done and depart. Everything else was temporary curiosity.
The two walked until they reached a second colossal drill. Richard had to grab his phone to send a series of directives at that point, and the machine slowly stopped rotating, granting safe access to its area.
Khan jumped on the black ground and compared it to the metal ceiling. Tremors reached his feet due to the other drills across the structure, but everything remained bearable. That vast room had no floor but could keep things relatively stable.
Richard approached one of the machine's legs, which opened to release two soldiers. The three began to talk while Khan reached the hole's edge to look down. That cavity was as large as a building, but even his senses couldn't calculate its depths.
"Captain, this way," Richard called while Khan was still busy staring at the dark hole, but lamps suddenly lit up and kept his gaze into those depths.
The entirety of the drill became visible, and the same went for the hole's wall, but Khan still struggled to see the bottom. He couldn't, no matter how much he squinted his eyes. That machine simply went too deep.
Khan eventually diverted his gaze and found Richard and another male soldier on a circular platform floating above the hole. The machine had released it, and the azure light from its new cavity marked the connection with that elevator.
Khan didn't waste time and jumped on the platform. He ignored the military salute of the new soldier and remained calm while that hovering elevator descended into the hole.
The descent resembled a freefall, but that wasn't Khan's first time on similar machines, so he simply waited to reach his destination. That happened a whole minute and a few hundred meters later when the platform arrived in front of a hole stretching into the wall.
"Is it here?" Khan asked when the platform stopped.
"Yes, sir," Richard confirmed. "The old drill broke after digging this opening. We only needed it to go forward for a few more meters."
"It's okay," Khan commented while jumping into that opening, showing no fear for the deadly fall that would have waited for him if he failed that leap.
"I only need to take down this wall, right?" Khan questioned as soon as the passage's bottom appeared in his view. That hole was barely a few meters deep, so he didn't need to move to spot it.
"Y-yes!" Richard exclaimed, experiencing some fear when he reached the platform's edge and looked below. "Sir, I'll show you the exact-."
"No need," Khan interrupted, lifting his right hand and covering it with bright mana that gave birth to a sword. "It's better if you stay away."
To be continued