Vivid Stars Online

Getting a message to the local head of government was not a simple task. It took several hours of calls, verification, and redirections before I could finally even get a message through to her.

Just calling in a crime to the security division would have been faster, of course, however, I wanted to let the Duchess know first. With the many oddities of this incident, I didn’t want to risk getting information out to the wrong source.

I was pretty sure that the Psion I had killed was the leader of the group. It sounded like she had either bribed or coerced Adam into forming this group of mercenaries and trailing me up here.

It was a shame that Adam hadn’t survived the fight, however, I couldn’t blame Linnea for defending herself. Plasma guns were hardly non-lethal weapons, so it wasn’t a surprise that he’d been killed.

It meant that getting to the truth of the matter would be a lot harder, however, which is why I wanted to tip the Duchess off first. Hopefully, she could investigate the situation before the shadowy backer the Psion had talked of was able to muddy the waters.

Eventually, I got the message through and received a curt response. It simply said that she would investigate and send a team to secure the area. If we were up for it, we could continue the expedition, or we could return to the city now.

It was a tough call considering that I still wanted to make it inside to the Ritual chamber. While I would still get paid for the location if we backed off now, I wasn’t sure I would ever get to use it after the government had locked it down.

On the other hand, both Linnea and I were in pretty awful shape right now. Even Elana had a badly damaged drone, though she was unharmed. Could I really push us forward, given how dangerous I knew the ruins to be?

Then an idea hit me, it wasn’t as if we needed to go in right now. For the first time on one of these trips, I’d been smart enough to bring four days of extra supplies. We could afford to spend a few days healing up before venturing inside.

After checking with the other two that they were still happy to proceed, I sent a message back indicating that we would keep the area secured until her team arrived. That would serve the dual purpose of giving us time to heal and ensuring that the bodies didn’t mysteriously disappear in some kind of coverup.

My watch pinged with an acknowledgment a moment later, saying that a team she trusted would be here in two days. I’d half expected her to just organize for a drop pod launch like Brian had talked off, however, I guessed that she was sending someone she trusted more than the normal army.

If they were coming from the city, I was extremely curious as to how they were going to arrive even faster than we did, however, I wasn’t about to question her. If the Duchess said they would be here in two days, I had little doubt they would be.

With that settled, we began setting up camp a little away from the corpses. While I doubted we could stop them from being entirely undisturbed by wildlife, we could at least look out for any large Beasts or humans encroaching on the area.

Despite her wounds, Linnea insisted on taking a watch, so we split the night into three watches, and actually got enough sleep that night. It was a pleasant change from the rush of the last few days, and I woke up the next morning feeling better.

The bone healing pills we had were already working wonders on my shoulder, having accomplished weeks of normal healing overnight. While I wouldn’t be entirely healed by the time the Duchess’ team arrived, I should at least be well enough to enter the facility.

Linnea was in a similar situation with the burn on her side. The smaller spattering of burns was already mostly healed, while the massive burn on her side would take longer. She assured me she would also be ready, however, though she probably wouldn’t be at full combat efficiency.

We spent that day resting while keeping an eye on the battlefield. As with the other facilities, no Beasts ever came close to the massive door, so all we had to do was to shoo off the occasional scavenger.

Despite my worries, no other humans showed up to mess with the site, leaving the scene of the crime mostly undisturbed. It wasn’t until the next day that the Duchess’ squad arrived, almost exactly forty-eight hours after she’d sent them.

The first sign of their arrival was an odd, whirring sound in the distance before a vehicle popped up over the side of the cliff. As it got closer, I could see that it zoomed over the snow while hovering a couple of feet above the ground.

Nice, I thought as watched the hover vehicle drive toward us. While it wasn’t nearly as fast as a car back in the real world, it was still more than twice as fast as we had been able to jog.

What was really important, however, was how it floated above all the rocks, debris, and cliffs that made up the mountainside. I had assumed that it would be impossible to get any kind of vehicle up here, but it turned out I had been wrong. Now that I’ve seen that, I really want one.

I wonder how much they cost, I mused, even as we prepared for the worst. It looked to be going slow enough that my scanner would still work, while still covering far more ground than I could do on foot. It has to be expensive, otherwise, all the explorers would be using them.

Shaking my head, I prepared to fight with Linnea and Elana, just in case. While it was likely to be the Duchess’ forces, we weren’t about to take any chances. If it ended up being more enemies, then we would be ready to fight.

Only a few minutes later, the hovercraft skimmed to a stop nearby and slowly lowered to the ground. A moment after they arrived, I received another message from the Duchess’ informing me that her men were there.

Unless I had been entirely tricked about who I was talking to, we should be safe. Given that I had gone through multiple official channels, I was as confident as I could be that I was talking to the real deal.

I gestured to the others to relax but stay cautious as I strode toward the edge of the vehicle. A door on the side slid open and an armored figure with Duchess’ crest emblazoned on their shoulder jumped out.

Another followed and before long, eight figures were standing before me. Despite myself, I tensed as the first figure advanced, if I’d been wrong about who these soldiers were then we would be in serious trouble.

“Jared Hope?” The figure spoke in a deep voice as they advanced. At my sightly nervous nod, they continued,” We are here to secure the site of the crime and the facility.”

“Ah,” I said before gathering my courage to continue. “We haven't finished searching it yet, I would prefer to continue before turning it over.” While I didn’t want to rock the boat, losing access to the ritual chamber after all that would be a tragedy.

“One moment,” the figure responded flatly before tilting their head in a way that suggested they were talking to someone. A moment later, they held out a wrist and a small hologram appeared, floating above their watch.

It was the Duchess who glanced at my nervous form before letting out an amused laugh. “Ah, Jared,” she said with a shake of her head. “Go in and use the chamber then, I know that’s what you're really after.”

“But let my men handle the rest of the facility and the AI. Given recent events, we have much to discuss, so I want you back as swiftly as possible. I will compensate you for anything we find in the ruins.”

That actually sounded pretty good to me and was much better than I’d feared. While I always assumed that the Duchess had known I was using the chambers, it was a relief to hear that she didn’t have a problem with it.

Beyond that, I couldn’t say that I was sad her men would handle clearing the facility. That was always difficult at the best of times and Linnea and I were still well below full combat capability.

I would probably have taken this deal even without the promise of compensation just to make things easier, with the compensation, it was perfect. I just had to wonder how serious things were for her to give me that good a deal.

Shaking my head to clear away that last dark thought, I thanked her and agreed to the deal. She vanished a moment later, after a last reminder to get back as quickly as possible. Having actually seen the Duchess, I signaled back to my companions to stand down and let the guards examine the area.

Four of them split off to handle that, while the original guard and three others began striding toward the facility entrance. I jogged over to explain the situation to the sisters before we all hurried to catch up near the gate.

One of the guards had interfaced with the panel as Elana had back at the first facility and before long, the gate began sliding open. It was a bit of a shock to see how easily they had entered the facility, but after thinking about it for a moment, I realized it made a lot of sense.

The people in this world had been exploring ruins like this for generations, of course, they would have a way to get inside. Given how the royal family seems to monopolize them after they’ve been turned over, they probably know all kinds of ways to interface with the tech, I mused. With a shake of my head.

Turning to shrug at the other two, we waited until the sounds of plasma fire had died down from inside. Less than a minute later, silence had fallen, and we rushed inside to see the soldiers advancing across an empty hangar.

Over a dozen small flying robots lay scattered across the floor. Each was reminiscent of Elana’s drone, and I found myself exceedingly happy that we hadn’t had to fight them.

Remembering my deal with said engineer, I rushed forward and asked if they would bring the remains back. While I could always just compensate Elana for the robots she wouldn’t be getting, it felt better to get her what she was actually after.

The lead guard simply shook her head and said I would have to discuss it with the Duchess. Then they jogged off to another door that their tech was opening.

I guess they are on an active combat op, I thought with a shake of my head. Best to just let them be. Instead, I turned my attention inward, trying to detect the location of the ritual chamber.

It was hard given how well shielded they tended to be, however, my Psi Sense was far better than it had been in that first facility. After nearly a minute of focus, I turned to a door on the other side of the hangar.

“This way,” I said to Linnea and Elana as I strode over. “We're going to get into the chamber, and then get out as soon as possible.” I was well aware that Duchess had stressed getting back as soon as possible, and beyond that, I was eager to hear what she had to say.

I was eager to finally find out what was going on here. Before that, however, it was time to get another upgrade.