100: Benighted and Bedevilled – One
A cramped, square passageway, its shape only discernible due to a light at the furthest end of it. Brightening and darting, the light was coming from something being held, rather than a stationary source.
Rounding the far end then came a sight none would have expected - Queen Kaizoku on her hands and knees.
Stripped of her elaborate armour and crown, she wore a dark jumpsuit and sturdy boots, her mechanical eye throwing a beam of light across her surroundings, while the device on the side of her face blinked in a clear indication that it was scanning as she went along.
At about midway down this crawlspace, Kaizoku came to a stop, sitting in an awkwardly crouched position as she went to pry open an access panel.
At least, she tried to. The outline of one was faintly visible, but it seemed to be more decorative than functional, Kaizoku's flesh and metal fingers failing to find purchase along the seam. In the beam of light coming from her artificial eye, slight imperfections could be seen across the surface of the wall she was regarding. Rather than the machined perfection of a smooth panel, lights and shadows caught on the faint pitting and pebbling that marred what was visible of the wall. Raised elements had a subtle ripple to them, calling to mind the appearance of stalagmites and stalactites. Whatever this corridor was, it didn't look like it had been built. It looked like it had been grown.
It looked Hyttan.
Slumping back with a frown, Kaizoku brought two fingers up to the device on her face before she spoke. "I've arrived at the next juncture. The access point has been completely sealed over, the just like the others."
"That's all of them, then," the Hand's voice came over the device, a low growl of frustration undercutting her words, "An access attempt is probably going to be about as successful as the ones we tried out here, so in those tight quarters? I wouldn't recommend it."
"We are in agreement on that," Kaizoku said with a huff, "Unless there are other points within this network you wish me to investigate for you, I will be exiting these tunnels."
"Keep going forward until you hit another T. Midway down the left of that will be a hatch you can use to get out." The Hand replied.
"Confirmed." Kaizoku said before closing the line and making her way onward.
The escape hatch, thankfully, opened without a fuss, after which Kaizoku lowered herself through it.
Only to land in one of the halls of the Pelekys.
She glanced about to get her bearings and saw that she'd exited out into a four way corridor, then turned to take the passage leading to the right. She unzipped the upper half of the jumpsuit as she walked, tying it about her waist, her arms left bare by the sleeveless shirt she had been wearing underneath.
The halls of the Pelekys were arched and daunting, the walls covered in ornate raised designs, a far cry from the plain panelling that was endemic of Thalatte ship design. Rather than harsh, overhead lighting, the walls were backlit in order to cast a more uniform glow, the lighting a warm white that was reminiscent of afternoon sunlight. It gave the appearance of leaded windows, which again, was a far cry from Thalatte standard.
But there were subtle differences, in comparison to the last time the interior of the ship had been seen.
No longer were the decorative lines starkly perfect, nor the panels a glossy shine. The dark arches, pillars, and filigree were all a matte black, and bore a distinctly organic look to them, the light-shedding panels no longer pristine panes, instead they looked to be translucent membranes. It all looked Hyttan now.
A door hissed open when Kaizoku approached it, and she ducked into the ship's medbay, and again, in comparison to the last time it had been seen, there were subtle differences. Hyttan differences.
Stood over one of the rejuvenation beds was Chancellor Bathory, and like Kaizoku she was out of her standard armour. She wore high waisted black slacks and a white button up, her sleeves folded neatly up to the elbows as she swiped her hand through the air, her gaze intent on whatever information was being projected to her from the device she was wearing on her face. Frowning thoughtfully, she spared Kaizoku a brief glance as she said, "Looks like our medical equipment has been upgraded too. According to my readings, these rejuvenators have quadrupled in efficacy, though I'm in no rush to test that out myself."
"Would that they were upgraded before we were unexpectedly ambushed by those raiders." Was Kaizoku's wry reply as she glanced about the space, arms crossed.
Bathory let out a scoff at that, swiping a hand down to shut off whatever it was she was seeing, before she pointed a thumb back at a scanning alcove behind her. "The medical scanner is now able to get readings at a much higher resolution than it could before, and even the handheld equipment has been upgraded far beyond what should have been physically possible. Our medbay wasn't anything to joke about before, but it'd be the envy of the best hospitals in the galaxy now."
Turning back to Bathory, Kaizoku asked, "Has the Program decided to grace you with its presence?"
"Not since it told us to take stock of the changes to the Pelekys," Bathory told her, shaking her head as she made a sweeping gesture at the ship around them, "As far as I've been able to tell, whatever got downloaded from the Knight's Storlayacas has converted almost everything aboard into Hyttan tech. I can only assume it's done the same to the Program, making it just as impossible to understand as Hyttan data is."
Breathing out a humourless laugh, Kaizoku said, "It better not have, for there is much it must explain. I will leave you to your assessment, and see how the others are faring."
Giving her a lazy salute, Bathory reactivated her device as Kaizoku left the medbay.
Retracing her steps back to where she'd landed, she chose the path that would have led her forward. This led her through the hall where the Hand and Bathory's quarters lay, but she ignored all the doors that lined this hall, aiming for the one at the far end of it.
This door led out onto the bridge, where General Grim was sat in the pilot's seat, dressed down in what may have been casual attire, if it weren't for the perfectly creased and pressed lines of what looked to be the uniform she was wearing.
All around her was projected the void of space - the Pelekys' combat screens all up and running, instead of just the main view screen. Before, these screens had been just that - screens - separate, geometric displays butted up against one another in order to create a dome-like view within the bridge. But now? There were no edges to each screen, instead there was a seamless dome on which the outside view was projected. In comparison to what the Pelekys' display looked like before, it was now sharper, clearer, and showed things further afield than it used to.
"And what about now?" Grim asked as she typed something up on her console, eyes intent on some detail on the view screen.
A few seconds later, the Hand's voice came over the comms, saying, "Still nothing. To be fair, this isn't a very powerful scanner, but I'm right up against the hull, and I know I would have been able to pick up even a trace fluctuation before. This upgrade really is something else."
The audio emulators had projected the Hand's voice from the rear of the bridge, and Kaizoku turned to it, finding that the screens now extended all the way to the door, giving her a view of the rest of the Pelekys stretching out behind her. The Hand was out there, midship along the hull, too far away for Kaizoku to see what kind of device she was holding in her hands, just that she carried one. It lit up briefly, edging the Hand in green light.
Turning to Kaizoku, Grim explained, "Some systems on the ship would affect our stealth capabilities when activated. They don't seem to be doing that anymore."
"That will be a benefit for whatever criminal ventures we get up to in the future." Kaizoku replied.
"It's going to cut back on repair times after we get done with our crimes too," the Hand added over the comms, "The hull's Hyttan material now too. Just tested it, and it self repairs just as quick as anything actually made by Hyttan hands. An interesting thing - instead of just a coat of paint, the hull plating is now black all the way through."
Letting out a thoughtful hum, Kaizoku said, "It seems it's not only our Storlayacas that are bucking the colourless trend."
"We're definitely going to have to have a talk about all of that," the Hand said with a disbelieving little laugh, "The Program decide to enlighten us yet?"
"No. I'm going to go see why," Kaizoku said as she turned to leave, "Alert me if anything dire is uncovered."
"Of course." Grim told her, her gaze once again returning to the stars.
Much like the bridge, the armoury within the Pelekys was awash with starlight from the arched windows that took up much of the space. Silvery light caught on the rows of weapons and armour neatly stacked in their rightful places, and seemed to make the Knight of the Tomb's complexion glow.
Leaning up against the wall near one of the weapon racks, the Knight was not dressed down in casual attire like the others, instead she wore her armour, as if expecting combat. Arms crossed and eyes closed, her odd, ancient armour and pure white colouring made her look like a statue carved from marble rather than a living person.
But when the door hissed open, so too snapped her eyes, spoiling her decorative look. Motionless except for said eyes, she coolly regarded the intruder to this space.
Twitching with a nervous energy, Madame Augury made her way through the room, not seeming to notice the Knight standing there. Like the Knight, she wore her standard armour, and had nearly crossed the entire space before the Knight commanded, "Hold."
Augury flinched, her hand falling to her side as if in search of a sidearm, but she tamped down the motion, instead turning to face the Knight as she asked, "Yes…?"
The Knight said nothing, did nothing, just stood there and stared down Augury with an unreadable expression on her face. In contrast, Augury was in constant motion, shifting from foot to foot, head twitching this way and that, while her hands flexed at her sides.
After an uncomfortably long stretch of silence, Augury ducked her head briefly, saying, "There is work yet to be done…" before moving to continue her exit of the armoury.
But before she could do more than take a step enough to turn around, a practice staff came flying out of one of the weapon racks and stopped before her, a clear indication that her path forward was barred.
Turning back around, Augury watched as the Knight held one hand out before her, as if she were readying for a handshake. Instead, another staff drifted out of the weapon rack and settled itself against her palm. The Knight started at Augury expectantly.
A thread of annoyance weaving through her distant voice, Augury told her, "As I said, there is work to be done… I have no time for this…"
"Make time." Was all the Knight said before she threw herself from the wall.
Augury barely had enough time to grab the hovering staff and bring it into a protective position in front of her, the Knight's overhead strike cracking against it with enough force to send Augury stumbling back.
She was quick to regain her footing, however, bringing the staff into a ready position to either attack or defend, the glow of her eyes narrowing from beneath her hood as she regarded the Knight.
The other woman had pulled back into a casual stance, staring down Augury. When the seer made no move to advance, the Knight twirled the staff before she rushed in once more.
The the dull crack of the synthetic wood of the staves was accompanied by the shuffle of boots on metal plating as the two wordlessly traded blows, the both of them cast in silhouette by the swath of stars beyond the armoury's window. The Knight was all tightly controlled, precise strikes, while Augury was visibly struggling to hold her own against her.
With a startling burst of speed, the Knight hooked her staff against Augury's before wrenching them both out of their hands, quickly following it up by pinning Augury's arms together in a hold that was obviously painful, given the cry it wrenched out of the seer.
"What is the point of this?!" Augury snapped, voice sharp with pain.
The Knight locked eyes with her as she calmly stated, "To see if the construct is worth keeping."
Augury went unnaturally still at that, eyes narrowing in anger before she reared back - not to escape, but to give herself more momentum as she lashed out with a brutal headbutt.
This caught the Knight off guard enough for her grip on Augury to loosen, and the woman wrenched herself free before barrelling the both of them to the ground. Straddling the Knight's waist, Augury let out a howl of rage as she began raining blows down on the other woman's face.
She only managed to get a few hits in before another voice barked, "Enough!"
One of Augury's raised fists was caught by a cobalt mechanical arm shot through with gold, and Kaizoku hauled her up off the supine Knight.
"What is the meaning of this?" Kaizoku demanded, glaring down at the Knight, "What was the point of that provocation?!"
Sea green blood oozing from the wounds Augury had given her, the Knight smirked up at Kaizoku, her body twitching with her single breath of a laugh.
"I told you, I'm here to test you. All of you," her gaze snapped to Augury at that, "You may have been built to see the threat, but were you forged with mettle enough to face it?"
Chest heaving, Augury said nothing, just wrenched her arm out of Kaizoku's grip and stormed out of the armoury.
Kaizoku watched her go for a moment, a muscle in the side of her jaw ticking, before she turned around and offered her hand to the Knight.
The other woman had obviously not been expecting that, as her eyebrows tilted in confusion before she smoothed her expression back to one of neutrality. Taking the offered hand, Kaizoku hoisted her to her feet.
"I appreciate that your mission is to see to our readiness in regards to a threat you cannot describe," Kaizoku said, reaching up a hand to tilt the Knight's face in order to better see her injury, her mechanical eye whirring briefly, "But I would rather you went about it in a way that would not end up with any of my crew injured."
Scoffing, the Knight said, "I pulled my strikes with Augury. She's fine."
"I could not have more obviously been meaning you." Kaizoku told her, dropping her hand, "All of us are bound by the Storlayacas, including yourself, and that makes you part of my crew."
The Knight went still at that, a flicker of something crossing her face, but she tamped it down almost immediately.
Nodding at the far door, Kaizoku said, "You were not concussed, at the very least, but your wounds still need tending. Your upgrades to the medbay will make short work of them."
Levelling an unreadable look at Kaizoku for a few seconds, the Knight lifted her hand, and the two staves pulled themselves from the floor and resettled back into the rack they'd come from. Or rather, the Knight's telekinesis had done so.
Everything back in order, she gave Kaizoku a slight nod before walking out of the room. Kaizoku watched her depart before she followed after Augury.
She found the seer in the Pelekys' main server room, hands braced against the Program's console as she growled, "Then when?"
"When I've finished collating all of the new data I've received. I have no intent on hiding it from you, but I won't dole it out piecemeal either." The Program answered, its voice smooth and glitch free.
Augury shoved herself away from the console with a rattle of annoyance sounding from somewhere deep in her chest, and aside from the way her shoulders heaved with every frustrated breath she took, she was, for once, motionless.
Kaizoku canted her head to one side at that, her gaze questioning as she asked, "Are you alright?"
Augury twitched, as if to fall back to her nervous appearance, but she let out a short, humourless laugh instead.
"She was toying with me, skilled enough to not land a hit through she easily could. I couldn't hit her, though I tried."
Stepping up next to her, Kaizoku said, "She rattled you, regardless."
"Much has." was Augury's cryptic reply as she turned to Kaizoku.
Giving her a once over, Kaizoku asked, "So your tremoring was an affectation, then?"
"Yes," Augury confirmed as she jerked her thumb at the Program's console, "But I won't divulge more until it does the same."
Giving her a respectful nod, Augury then marched from the room.
Kaizoku made a noise in the back of her throat at that, resting her hands against her hips as she turned to the Program's console and asked, "Collating, you said?"
"Still in the middle of it, I said," the Program replied, "The amount of information flowing through my circuits now measures in quettabytes, and so it is taking longer to get through. Rest assured, I am getting through it, and my findings will be shared once I am finished."
"All that information has altered you." Kaizoku stated, and on the display of the main console, the Program's avatar flickered as if it had laughed.
"It has altered us all, you just haven't realized it yet."