131: Mecha Combat – Foruteen
Whatever Malakh had been expecting the Gheluc device capable of detecting Hyttan artifacts to look like, the squat thing before her certainly wasn't it.
"And you are positive this item is what we seek?" Nevara asked beside her, and though Malakh couldn't make out the other woman's expression through either her helmet or the shadowed appearance that was overlaid them all while their stealth devices were activated, her tilted posture spoke volumes.
"Yeah, this is the thing we're after," Malakh told her, unable to keep the doubt from her voice, "Though it really doesn't look like much."
Nevara's scoff came over the line. "It looks like a cube."
And there really wasn't much to it beyond that. A silver coloured casing, a few seams across it here and there, the entire device was barely two hand spans wide. It was a genuine Gheluc artifact, Malakh's HUD translating the symbols stamped across the top of the cube as "Gamenkybos", the only other irregularity on the device being a black handle set into the back of it.
"I'm guessing this thing is supposed to be transportable," Nevara said, motioning to the handle, "Maybe it's simple construction is more for practicality than aesthetics?"
"I've got no idea what Gheluc tech normally looks like, so that's a good a guess as any. Vi, you able to extract the programming from this thing?" Malakh asked.
"Already on it," Viatrix trilled, "It's honestly making me feel kinda stupid for not thinking of this myself! Scanning for the energy source of most tech is the easiest way to find them, right? Because they're either constantly in use, or active enough that they're radiating particles and frequencies that can be picked up from a long way off. But however the Hyttan's perpetual energy source works, it doesn't work like that. No radiation of any sort, so you've gotta be sitting on top of it if you want to pick it up on any kind of scanner. But this thing doesn't scan for what Hyttan objects give off - it's scanning for what it takes away!"
"What do you mean by that?" Nevara asked into the dramatic pause that Viatrix provided, the smile evident in her voice.
"Hyttan objects basically last forever because they've got that whole self healing property, but the material to heal doesn't come from nowhere. I'm not really sure how it works on a mechanical level, but Hyttan stuff pulls material from their surroundings in order to fabricate whats needed to self repair. The worse the damage, of course, the more material an object is going to pull from its surroundings, and so the bigger the void its going to leave behind. But age causes wear, even if a thing is just sitting locked away somewhere, and so that self healing system is always running on Hyttan devices, even if it's in a minimal way. And it affects the surrounding world in the same way, regardless of the size of the device or the totality of the damage being repaired, and its the energy of this drawing in of matter that the Gheluc device scans for."
"Clever," Malakh said with a low whistle, "Do you have any idea what the range is on this thing?"
Viatrix let out an indecisive hum, buying herself time while she ran calculations. "Somewhere between a world or a stellar system. I'll be able to narrow that down once we get a chance to properly poke around in all of this."
"I'm really looking forward to that," Malakh was practically vibrating in excitement at the thought, "Let's get the blueprint for this thing too."
Letting out a quiet laugh as she brought up her scanner, Nevara said, "Hopefully the design of this item is more for form than the function of it, because its really leaving a lot to be desired."
"Trust me, I'm already drafting prettier shells for this thing in my head," Malakh assured her, "If we have this thing on camera, I do not want it leading back to this Institute. But more than that, it's way too plain to go with our vibe. We need something a little more befitting the moody look of the Pelekys' aesthetic!"
After taking a shower and changing into some lounging around clothes, V'tala joined the others in the rec room, where they filled her in on their ideas for future plot lines they could pursue in their search for Hyttan artifacts to increase their understanding of the mission that had been provided to them by the enigmatic Storlayacas. Anything for any advancement on that front.
As she listened to them explain their ideas, V'tala found her gaze continually drawn to Pryseia, seated on the floor in front of the low table, flipping through documents on its inset screen, mostly postings from Avvisi with requests from scientific expeditions looking for security details on delves into Hyttan ruins in hostile territories. "Even if the device Malakh and the others are liberating turns out to be a dud," Pryseia reasoned, "We at least have other options when it comes to seeking out Hyttan artifacts. Defending archeological expeditions would be neither taxing to our abilities, nor morally repugnant. Well, in this case, at the very least."
She looked tired, V'tala noticed, but Pryseia was alert and focused, a small smile tugging at her lips as she went over some of the details of the assorted requests she'd found, her gestures loose and relaxed. She looked far more at ease than she had earlier that day, even after her one sided bout against N'ang. She herself had gotten the vanquished usgaisjan on her back in a very different way not that long ago, V'tala realized with something close to surprise, along with several of the woman's crew mates. Her experience with them had been fun in the moment, but she found she had to keep reminding herself that it had happened. Despite how the loss of one's virginity seemed to be something of a momentous occasion in the pop culture zeitgeist of her people - in the pop cultures of many different races, she was realizing, the more media from other cultures she consumed - it felt no more outstanding to her than brushing her teeth after waking, or eating when she felt hungry. The vacant, distant look in Pryseia's eyes this morning stood out with sharper clarity in her memory, the feel of the other woman's hand pressed into her pulse like a phantom against her wrist. What she felt for Pryseia was far more substantial than the fleeting pleasure she'd chased with N'ang and her lot this evening.
Her eyes sweeping over the woman before her, V'tala couldn't help but acknowledge how odd it was seeing Pryseia like this, her arms and eyes symmetrical for once, looking more like the girl from the skating videos Viatrix had dug up for them back on Osatiawjo, and less the woman V'tala was accustomed to. V'tala found herself missing the stark geometry of Pryseia's more mechanical arm, and the lingering threat of her artificial eye. Just a few more days, she reminded herself, and then Pryseia could go back to normal. Once she bested those who remained in this tournament, that was.
Pryseia turned to her then, her smile growing and her unmarred eyebrow lifting as she asked, "Does the thought of archeological adventure thrill you so, to bring such a smirk to your countenance?"
V'tala didn't bother hiding her expression as she replied, "No, but the thought of you decimating the others in this tournament does."
A startled laugh escaped Pryseia at that, and she turned away, eyes crinkling in mirth. "Well, I'm glad to entertain." She replied, turning back to catch V'tala's eye, and for once, V'tala let her own smile grow to match the one the other woman wore.
"Alright, we're headed back to the shuttle!" Viatrix suddenly announced over the comms, "Got what we need, and then some! Malakh and Nevara both request something for dinner, because, and I quote, 'all this sneaking around has me fucking starving'."
Rhea cackled at that. Pushing herself off the couch, she said, "Let them know I'm on it. They'll have something warm and filling waiting for them by the time they make it home."
"They're stoked about that," Viatrix chirped, "See you soon enough!"
Turning back to the others as she headed for the door, Rhea asked, "Any requests, or do I have free reign in the kitchen?"
"Concoct something vile," Elytra joked, standing from where she'd been seated on the floor across from Pryseia, "I can lend you a hand in your evil deeds!"
Pitching her voice up several octaves as she hunched over and rubbed her hands together gleefully, Rhea screeched, "Come then, my pretty! To the cauldron to see to our foul brew!"
Elytra let out a cackle of her own and followed after her.
Laughing she stood, swiping a hand across the table to put it to sleep, Pryseia said, "Rhea told me once about a figure from the folklore of her world, a witch who lived in a hut that travelled across the land, as it had the legs of a bird."
"I don't think such a mode of transportation would suit our line of work." V'tala replied as she stood to join Pryseia, the pair of them trailing behind the still cackling pair.
"Probably not, but I'm sure Malakh would have no difficulty in constructing such a contraption." Pryseia said, her smile turning wan as she added, "A digression from the topic at hand, but I truly appreciate you bringing me back from the brink today. I am in your debt."
"No you aren't," V'tala assured her, "If I've learned anything since meeting you all, it's that there's no debts between friends. I know you'd do the same for me."
"I would." Pryseia replied, her smile warm and her eyes bright in a way they hadn't been so many hours ago, and V'tala felt something settle within her at the sight. This easy comradery, this meant so much more to her than all the casual intercourse she had today. Like Rhea had said, she'd give up sex in a heartbeat if this was what she got to have instead. There was simply no comparison between the two for her.
Having a better idea of what the security measures were like across Trowsorab as a whole, Nevara was able to cut their return trip by half, arriving with time enough for Malakh and her to get washed and changed before Rhea and Elytra had finished with dinner.
The meal ended up being a human dish called "burgers and fries", which Rhea insisted was something best eaten after some kind of taxing event.
"Okay, this really is hitting the spot." Malakh said after swallowing the massive bite she took, sauce from the burger dripping all over her fries ("Look, you gotta eat the fries once they're covered in burger drippings, they're so good like that, trust me!" Rhea had insisted), "For what ended up being a pretty boring mission, I burned through way too much energy!"
"Agreed," Nevara said, taking a sip of the bubbly beverage Rhea insisted was the drink of choice to have with this type of meal, "Elytra, I fear you are going to have your work cut out for you trying to wring something entertaining from the footage we recorded."
Pausing before she took another bite of her own burger, Elytra grinned at her, saying, "Don't worry, I'll figure out some way to zhuzh it up."
Pointing one of her fries at where Viatrix's avatar gently spun on the screen of a console, Pryseia said, "I'm very intrigued by the discovery that the Necupole have been stealing research secrets from their peers, or from just the Thalatte, at the very least, and I agree with the assessment that it could be used to alleviate the attention the Stratocracy is paying to the Kith, now that the Mercatus is no more. I humbly request that the collation and forwarding of such research to the Kith fleet be your primary focus on the morrow, as this could save the lives of many an ally."
"I was thinking the exact same thing," Viatrix told her proudly, "I'll keep copies of everything, because some of it might be useful to us, and we can worry about that Gheluc device once we're away from Trowsorab altogether."
"And speaking of, we were brainstorming some ideas as to what to do after we're out of here," Rhea said, nodding at Nevara and Malakh, "There's quite a few research institutes out there looking to dig up Hyttan ruins in hostile territories, and it seems that a lot of them come to the Kith looking for bodyguards. Getting some one on one time with actual Hyttan experts would probably do us good in the long run."
Malakh frowned at that. "But in a weird way, aren't we, technically, Hyttan experts ourselves? I mean, we inadvertently learned more about what happened to them than anyone else ever has, all that shit we saw when we healed Pryseia and V'tala, and Viatrix got her upgrade, plus what we've been able to glean through communion with the Storlayacas, both the safe and dangerous way."
"And that's something we'd need to be careful about fumbling the parcel on," Elytra added with a frown of her own, "How much of what we know do we fill these people in on?"
Looking overwhelmed as she blew out a breath, Rhea added, "You mean like the totally believable fact that we know the Hyttan got themselves killed due to their own hubris, when they brought the mother of all Leviathan - literally - into our galaxy somehow, and that before they sealed it away, it prevented the Hyttan from being understood by anyone who wasn't Hyttan? Or about the fact that a being powerful enough to do that to all the races of the galaxy is coming back, and the seven of us are the only ones who can stop it, because for some reason the basically sentient mechs that the Hyttan built to fight this thing decided that they wanted us to be their pilots? Or the fact that our AI crew member is the digital equivalent to genetically Hyttan, and the ship that houses her got converted to Hyttan tech when we entered some kind of psychic space on the edge of death, maybe, and performed metaphysical surgery with a tool that turned into some kind of upgrade?"
Her avatar twitching in agitation, Viatrix said, "If entertainment media has taught me anything, it's that me and the Pelekys would get dissected if anyone else found out about that."
"Which is not something we would ever fucking allow." Rhea promised her.
"The trickiest part about our situation is that we have undeniable proof of all these facts," Pryseia pointed out, the drumming of the fingers of her left hand against the table muted by the synthetic flesh that covered her prosthetic arm, "A more through scan of the ship and Vi's systems would reveal the truth of their Hyttan pedigree, and as we witnessed when we introduced the crew of the Gorgon to the Storlayacas, they are able to share these visions with others beyond ourselves. But I fear that, were we to show such to those who do not owe us loyalty through blood, the Storlayacas themselves would become a target for study, and we'd have more than the Thalatte with a vested interest in bringing us to heel."
"Thankfully we have not encountered any in our travels, but there are those out there who make their careers by stealing Odazaen from those who possess them," Nevara pointed out, "These sort are bold enough to target Thalatte ships that are known to house them - I was the pilot on duty during more than a few of these raids during my servitude - so they would have no compunctions about targeting a Kith vessel."
"Glare informed me of as much when we formally registered V'tala to our crew," Pryseia added, "They said to downplay the authenticity of the Storlayacas' abilities, as that sort of power would make for a very tempting target."
Tipping her chair enough to balance on its back legs, Rhea said, "Then maybe linking up with an archeological expedition wouldn't be such a hot idea."
"It's one we can table for now," Pryseia told her, "We've the rest of this tournament to get through, after which we'll have time enough to replicate the Gheluc device our people acquired tonight, and should we require more time or funds to facilitate our own independent research, we always have the option of falling back on hunting down Leviathan. We can come to a decision in regards to how to proceed once we aren't in the midst of hostile territory."
"I raise my hand in favour of that," Malakh replied, her burger devoured and her fries soon to follow, "To borrow a phrase from Rhea, it's been one fuck of a day, and now that I'm fed, I feel like I'm gonna crash. I do not have the mental capacity to be making decisions beyond what position I'm going to be falling asleep in."
"Given everything that's happened today, sleep would do us all some good." Viatrix said, levelling a pointed look at Pryseia, which Rhea immediately noticed and followed up with a shout of, "Yeah! Get her ass!"
"Allow me to finish my meal first, you ruffians!" Pryseia laughed, hastily taking a bite of her half eaten burger.
"Well, I, for one, am looking forward to a few days where we don't need to stress about any other sneaking around," Viatrix said, the cheer returning to her voice, "Especially now that I've got a ton of data to go through while you're off playing video games or whatever."
Sitting up excitedly and whipping around to face V'tala, Elytra exclaimed, "Speaking of! Apparently there's some kind of raid happening in that game tomorrow. A bunch of the mercs were mentioning partying up to take it down."
Returning her grin with a small smile of her own, V'tala said, "Then I guess we're going to be playing video games or whatever."
That got a giggle out of everyone seated around the table.