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Prologue
Core Terminal
Lt. Vaelyn looked at the computer screens in front of her, her fingers drumming a Mug of Misery absentmindedly. A group of Tech Knights and scientists had ventured down onto the metal surface of the Core (by means of an elevator that had been recently installed) and were inspecting the strange instruments and machinery that could be found all over it. She was currently looking at a listing of the various objects they had documented so far, with the list being added to every few minutes.
The screen briefly flickered, a sign that the list had just been updated. Vaelyn lifted the Mug of Misery and took a sip from it, before setting it down. She had acquired an affinity for the Fiendish drink a while ago, as it reminded her of some rather fine alien cuisine that she had sampled before, when the Skylark was still operational and journeyed all around the universe. She had been taking some well deserved R&R after a series of heavy-duty action, and was spending some time with her family on an allied planet. It was all still so clear in her mind. Her parents had been so proud. Their little girl, who had fought at and survived the Liberation of Ilsola and become a hero. Her little sister, squeaking with excitement and begging her to tell her what had happened that day, for the fifth time in less than an hour...
Vaelyn tore herself away from her memories and shook her head. That was decades ago. Her life was now one on Cradle, as the second-in-command of the Spiral Order. Cradle was all that mattered at the moment. Everything else was a thing of the past.
Her wrist comlink suddenly buzzed, signaling that someone wanted to talk to her. She pressed a button on it and brought it up to her mouth. "Yes?" she said.
The Knight on the other end spoke quickly and bluntly, skipping the pleasantries altogether. "Ma'am, we have a bit of a situation on our hands here. If you could come over to the Energy Lab in the East Wing?..." Without waiting for a response, the speaker terminated the call.
Vaelyn frowned and dropped her arm. How rude.
She got out of the chair and exited the room she was currently in, passing through a Mist Gate that acted as a door. She entered a hallway that led into a large atrium filled with other Knights going their own separate ways. The Order had created a proper research center at the Core Terminal, after Vaelyn and the rest of her team of Technicians had filed several complaints stating that the previous Terminal was nothing but a long pathway leading to a platform with piles of computers and a single Elevator (Which was a rather precise description, in fact). Entering the atrium, she headed into another passageway that led to the East Wing.
Soon reaching the Energy Lab, she entered the room, her rank granting her access to go through the room's high clearance-level Mist Gate. Inside, there was a small group of Technicians clustered around a set of computers.
"What seems to be the problem here?" Vaelyn asked, as she walked towards the group. The Technicians turned to face her.
"Come have a look for yourself." One of them said. They all stepped aside to allow Vaelyn to easily see the computers. One of them had a map of the section of the Core's surface that the other group of Technicians were currently exploring. The map showed the varying amounts of energy scattered around the area. There was a group of small blobs in the middle of the screen, indicating the energy readings of the Technicians. The far left side of the map, however, was completely covered in one massive energy signature, which was moving closer and closer to the Technicians.
"That is one big energy signature." Vaelyn said. She turned to the Technicians surrounding her. "You guys have any idea what it is?"
One of them sighed. "Honestly, ma'am, we don't even know what type of energy it is. It's nothing like we've ever encountered before."
Vaelyn frowned. "Does it pose a danger to the Technicians who are down there?"
"Like we said, we've never encountered anything like this before. We don't know."
Vaelyn nodded. "All right. I'm not taking any chances, though. I want those guys out of there, right now."
Looking at the map, she realized that they were already on it. The Technicians' were already heading towards the Elevator that would bring them up to the Terminal. However, she noted that one lone energy signature was heading towards the mysterious advancing cloud of energy. Not good.
Vaelyn pointed at the energy signature. "Can you identify who that Knight is?"
One of the Technicians typed something into another computer. "Um, yes ma'am. That is Technician Rolan."
"I want you to open a com-link channel so we can speak with him."
"Yes ma'am."
After the pressing of some buttons, a channel was open. A voice spoke out from a computer speaker.
"Hello?"
Rolan's energy signature was right up against the energy cloud.
Vaelyn brought her wrist arm up to her mouth. "Technician Rolan, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to head towards the Elevator immediately. We-"
Before she could go any further, a loud shriek tore through the speakers, causing several Technicians to cover their ears. It was immediately followed by the sound of something very much like what one would hear during a nasty storm, and then static.
Rolan's energy signature had disappeared off the map.
Wide-eyed, Vaelyn spoke into her com-link again. "Rolan? Are you there? Are you all right?" But she heard nothing but static. She spun around to look at the Technicians.
"What in the name of Isora just happened there!?"
The Technicians all looked as shocked and confused as she did. None of them spoke. Grumbling, Vaelyn turned back to the map, hoping that Rolan's energy signature had reappeared. They hadn't. But something else had changed. The energy cloud was now dashing towards the group of evacuating Technicians, rapidly chewing up the distance between the two. Within seconds, it had nearly engulfed the entire map, and was just about to close in on the Technicians when-
The computer turned off. As did all the other computers. And the lights. The whole room was plunged into darkness.
Vaelyn swore loudly. The Terminal had just lost power.
Nobody spoke for several moments. They were all too confused, too stunned at the sudden events to put a single sentence together. They all just waited for the emergency generators to kick in. They didn't.
Vaelyn quickly assessed the situation.
A strange mass of energy none of these guys recognizes appears. Rolan's energy signature is wiped off the map after he gets too close to it. Something happened to him, or why would he scream? Right afterwards, the energy cloud speeds towards the other Technicians, and we lose all power right when it reaches the Elevator. Even the emergency generators.
Something is not right here.
Vaelyn's thoughts were interrupted by the computers flaring back to life. A menacing purple light spread through the room, casting strange shadows.
On the screen was a large purple eye, surrounded by a background of static.
Vaelyn slammed her hands down on the computer top, and stormed out of the room, leaving behind an utterly perplexed and frightened team of Technicians. She was going to get to the bottom of this. She took a Fire Crystal out of a pouch on her belt to illuminate the way back to the Atrium.
The Atrium was decently lit, due to the fact that most of the Knights had also taken out their own Fire Crystals. All of the screens and computers in the Atrium showed the same strange image; a purple eye. Vaelyn headed through a non-functioning Mist Gate that lead to an observation deck, showing a view of the Core. It was also where the Elevator that lead down to the Core's surface was located, where any Technicians who had made it up should be.
She saw no Technicians. Apparently none of them had gotten back up before the energy cloud had overtaken them. But that barely registered in Vaelyn's mind, after seeing something else far more important.
The whole of the Core was surrounded in a pulsing, flickering cloud of dark purple. It appeared to be some type of gas or mist, from what Vaelyn could see. Wisps of the stuff trailed away from the Core, and whirled in the air. Purple lightning flashed from the cloud, casting parts of the Terminal in frightening shadow.
Other Knights were beginning to walk onto the observation deck, pointing and the purple mass and shouting. As more and more Knights came out, a portion of the purple mass, the part facing the Terminal, began to shift and flash. A few shouts of alarm were yelled out, but most of the Knights were silent, wondering what was about to happen.
As they watched, the gaseous material took the form of a massive, purple eye, just like what had appeared on all of the computer screens, albeit somewhat blurry due to being composed of gas. It suddenly lost its blurry shape, the image sharpening like it had just become a solid image.
The pupil in the middle slowly began to move around, as if belonging to some giant creature. Everyone was deathly silent. It suddenly focused on the crowd of Knights standing on the observation deck. Several people screamed.
The eye was still for several moments. Suddenly, a loud, booming noise was heard, a dark and evil-sounding laugh coming out of nowhere. The laughter increased in volume, continuing on and on as more Knights began to scream.
As the laughter became hysterical, a bolt of purple shot out from the mass, and completely obliterated the West Wing of the Terminal.
Pandemonium ensued. The screaming reached an all-time high, as Knights rushed back inside the facility. Vaelyn simply stood there, watching in utter shock as another blast took out the East Wing. The general evacuation alarm began to sound, which meant that power had returned to the facility, and the Elevators would be functional. However, Vaelyn didn't know if there were enough Elevators and enough time for everyone to get back to Haven.
As a third bolt destroyed the storage level of the Terminal, Vaelyn, in an impossible state of calmness, pressed a few buttons on her com-link, and brought it up to her mouth. As the screams and terrible laughter continued, Vaelyn spoke a few words. And for the first time in years, she let fear seep into her voice.
"Captain Ozlo? This is Lieutenant Vaelyn. We have a problem."
I...
LIKE IT. It's suspenseful and such. Even though I haven't read the old/original Core Wars and this is the "revised" version, it sounds interesting. Keep going, I wanna see what happen next. :D