As Aedhira reached the 22nd floor and stepped out into the corridor, he was greeted by a sight that left him momentarily speechless. Stretching out before him was a massive rail system, a labyrinth of tracks and platforms that seemed to extend endlessly in all directions.
"What in the world..." Aedhira muttered, his eyes wide with disbelief.
[Welcome to the Lienus Rail, sire.]
Aedhira turned to see Monitor standing nearby, his visor glowing with an air of pride.
"The Lienus Rail?" Aedhira repeated, still trying to wrap his head around the sight before him.
[Indeed. This rail system was constructed during the heyday of Fort Blanche, intended to serve as a rapid transit network connecting various outposts and settlements across Lokir. It fell into disuse after the collapse of the old world, but it seems to still be operational, albeit in a somewhat... unconventional manner.]
[The records....they are corrupted.....I am unable to scan the information accurately....but it should still be functional, at least for the time being]
Aedhira nodded, beginning to understand. The rail system could be their ticket to reaching the besieged outpost in time to provide assistance. But there was one problem.
"How do we operate it?" Aedhira asked, eyeing the complex network of tracks with uncertainty.
[Allow me to explain, sire. The Lienus Rail is powered by a combination of mana and ether, channeled through the ley lines that crisscross Lokir. By interfacing with the control panel, we should be able to activate the system and get the thing moving again.]
"Sounds straightforward enough," Aedhira said, though he couldn't help but feel a twinge of apprehension. The rail system seemed too good to be true, and he couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it than met the eye.
His hands reached out to the black panel, and pressed upon it. He waited, held his breath....
Only for nothing to happen.
His head swiveled to turn to a very pleased Monitor. Monitor looked on an angry (slash)(or) confused(?) Aedhira looking down to his short frame.
Aedhira was a child. There was no other was to put it. He was in fact only, 6 days old, only difference being, he had thousands of years of data packed into him.
Yet, with instead of a hard pressed frown, was a simple, happy smile. Aedhira wasn't like others people, he had complete control over his...'muscles', so if one looked on, they wouldn't really be able to tell between a genuine smile and a fake. Then again, he had never had any reason for such facades....that is until now.
With a.....happy(?) face, he asked....calmly.
"Monitor?"
[Sire?]
"You are....joking....yes?"
If the machine could sweat, it would, but alas that wasn't a feature it could afford.
[Sorry, sire...I hadn't put enough thought into it....]
Aedhira sighed. He couldn't blame Monitor. All of his Maxims were essentially no better than five year olds armed with guns....which wasn't an entirely inaccurate analogy. They were just too....'young'. And unlike him, they didn't have all the advantages he was packed with. He'd would have to teach them and endure their mistakes until they were simply....
Better....Hopefully.
He looked at the sight in front of him. It looked quite similar to subway, except a subway wasn't this massive. It was essentially a 3 story train, except....well actually, it did look appallingly close to a train. Just without the wheels, or the chimneys.
"Argos, can you scan it? What's the issue here?"
[Please reach out to the panel once more.]
And he did just that. He pressed his palm on the panel hoping Argos would do something, magical or technical or some ass-pull for all he cared.
[Scan complete. Insufficient power. Resolution-----Redirecting mana from auxiliary lines....]
Aedhira waited, then waited some more, the suddenly-
[SUCCESS]
The panel flickered to life, glitching here and there until it stabilized....somewhat. And it was that 'somewhat' that drove Aedhira to question the situation.
"Argos? What's going on? What did you do?"
[There is insufficient power sire. I redirected a percentage from the newly active auxiliary mana line, but even then it isn't enough]
"But didn't we restore a generator a couple hours ago?"
[It was merely an auxiliary source, made to supply mana in case the Core of the fort went offline]
"Which in our case, it did."
[Affirmative]
"What do we do?"
[There are a couple dozen more of the same, littered through out floors between 10 and 18.] If we can get even half of them back to functional status, we'd would have enough mana to power the rails of a distance from Fort Blanche to the outpost in question]
"But that'd take days....Wait, what about a one way trip?"
[...]
What Aedhira suggested wasn't completely outside the boundaries of reason. A one way trip would require significantly less power than getting the rail permanently powered. But there was risk.
Immense risk. The information they had on both the location and the situation was minimal. He was going to charge in effectively blind until he had a look for himself. The Meynel satellite wasn't one built to observe in detail, meaning there was a high chance that, even what little they already had was unreliable.
Yes, going in like this was immensely risky.
[...It is possible]
But unless he took that risk, how would he know what he was capable of?
"It'll have to do."
He turned to monitor. "I need this ready within the next system hour, is that understood?"
Monitor aggressively nodded. It understood, it understood that if it didn't 'understand' it might end up loosing more than a few parts.
"Good, I'll suit up. Argos, have the Maxims converge here by then."
[Ah...sire, I'm afraid what you have in mind isn't possible]
"What do you mean?"
[There isn't enough power for the Lienus Rail to take more than one passenger. You would have to go alone]
"What? Can't I just put them inside the {Armaspace} before I do?"
[That rule might have applied...but your Maxims cannot enter any longer. The {Armaspace} has separated their signatures once you made them your Maxims]
"Would've been nice to know before hand"
[And affect the selection?]
"Fair enough. Fine, I'll go alone. It's not like I'll be completely alone, I can still bring out some Soldiers once I get there"
[Affirmative]
He turned to Monitor again.
"I'll leave behind a contingent of a thousand soldiers, get them to work, restore more generators while I'm gone. If I'm not wrong, we'll need a place suitable for a couple hundred people. Get the life support online, we might not need to breath, but they do."
[Affirmative, sire]
"Good, then it's time for me to suit up"