Recon knight Parma was scared. Her escape pod had missed its mark, landing in a canyon. Her HUD was scrambled and she thought she heard scratching on the outside of it. Deathly moans and groans surrounded her, the sensory assault unending. She thought she saw a skeletal face on the outside of the pod but then dismissed it as a fear hallucination. The battering continued. She thought of her squad guardian, Grantz and how brave he was. He would probably run out, sword in hand ready to bust some heads together. She figured that the other members of the Alpha Squad Commandoes were probably dead, not many Spiral Knights had made it to the escape pods in time. An audible thump hit the wall. She looked through the plasteel viewing window and saw the head of a horse. She recognized it from the brief scans the Skylark performed before being shot down. Spiral HQ had named it a "Trojan". The trojan continued its smashing of the pod. She saw skeletal, dusty figures alongside it, desperate to spill blood. She looked around the pod. She had had time to assemble a few weapons. She was wearing the sparse grey long sleeve shirt and pants of the Skylarks crew. She had brought an umbra driver with her, along with a graviton vortex and a leviathan blade. Being a Vanguard had its perks. She tucked the bomb into her knapsack for later. The umbra driver she carried in her left hand, opposite from the leviathan blade. She kicked the handle on the interior of the pod, shattering it. She charged outside and nearly fainted. Around the pod were dozens, if not hundreds of dusty skeletons. She was in a sizeable canyon with gears and machinery scattered about the sides of it. A skeleton saw her and breathed. The breath was so forceful and toxic it dazed her. She dove to the side avoiding a leaping skeleton. Parma lobbed the graviton vortex into the centre. She turned and ran and didn't look back..
She leaped onto a gear, being carried up. She vaulted at another one, her hands just grabbing the prongs. When she had leapfrogged up the canyon she finally looked around proper. She had landed in the middle of a prairie. Parma flinched at a sudden beep. It was a HUD notification. The cold voice of an AI spoke to her. It said: "All knights, repeat all knights. Report to the coordinates: 6-9-4-3-4." It kept repeating.
"All knights repeat all knights-"
"Ok ok shut up already" Parma snapped. She checked her HUD again. 6-9-4-3-4- was not all that far away. In fact, it was only about a mile away from where she found herself. She could just make it out on the horizon. It looked like a city.... a haven of some sorts.

Rulen probably landed in the best position possible. He had always stayed near the pods on the Skylark, he was flighty by nature. The minute the alarms went off, he dashed into the pod and strapped up. He fired off his pod before anyone else. His pod had had a smooth flight down, having been modified by him personally. When the pod landed, he gathered his communicator and Valiance and strode out. He found a small inlet, sheltered by a small rocky outcropping. He had set off a distress beacon to alert other knights to his position. Rulen dozed off for a nap under the rock.
When he awoke, he noticed many knights were gathered around with many tents pitched. A recruit approached him. "Ah Sir Rulen you are awake!" The recruit said at length".
"Well I am now!" Rulen replied.
"What happened here?" Rulen continued.
"Sir we saw your distress beacon, and then came here. A storm came, so we pitched camp in this sheltered area. We see that the other knights have already proceeded to a non-hostile xenos town called 'Haven'. We are waiting for the storm to blow over so we can move out. I'm not sure how you slept through it, to be honest sir".
"Quite right, then! Do you have all of the knights oh I'm getting a message. Hmmm well your dismissed, recruit. Go get some food." Rulen looked at the message. It said:
"Meet me at the northmost building in Haven. Signed, Captain Ozlo."
"Haven!? But that's miles from here! Argh. Now I'm gonna get all wet." Rulen looked at the town off in the distance. He sighed heavily and hoped that the rain would stop.

Euclid opened the scarlet, silken flap nervously. Although he didn't know it, he was the last of his squad mates to reach the building. He had received the cryptic message from Captain Ozlo like everybody else. He pushed open the flaps and walked to the gathering of knights.
Captain Ozlo was there to send them of personally, along with Lieutenant Feron. Him and the rest of Euclid's squad were already deep in conversation.
"This Clockworks thing sounds fascinating' Rulen.
"Fascinating!? It sounds like a screaming metal death trap!" Grantz shouted.
"Now, Guardian Grantz this is no time to lose your temper." Feron admonished.
"Yes, Captain" Grantz said at length.
"This sounds like an interesting challenge! When do we leave?" Parma inquired.
"Today" Feron responded.
"Talking about me again? What did I do this time?" Euclid joked. He had somewhat of a habit of joking at inappropriate times. He was greeted with silence. Feron and Ozlo turned to him. They began to brief him on the Clockworks and the energy source at the bottom and how it was their mission to send an advance team down the Clockworks to find out what the energy source was and how to harness it to make the Skylark fly.
"Of course, we won't be sending you down unassisted. We have a squad that will follow you down halfway. Then they will head back up and establish a garrison around the first third mark. Great squad, led by a man named Ashen. But, we still need to outfit you. The strangers have been kind enough to lend us some gear, it's a little odd but it is FAR superior to what we had before."
As if on cue, four of the tall Strangers walked in. They had wheeled trolleys that they pushed over.
Wordlessly, they started handing out equipment.
To Euclid, they handed a full Skolver set. He accepted it thankfully, happy to put something over his simple crew outfit. He put it all on. A Stranger handed him an Obsidian Carbine. They also handed him a Divine Avenger. "Thank you so much" he said.
The Strangers approached Rulen. He stepped back nervously but they raised their hands in a surrendering jester. He cautiously stepped over. They handed him a Grey Feathered set and a SilverSix. He took it gratefully then dashed behind Grantz. MORE LATER OUTTA TIME

Two more apps and were " rer'e" to go

A knight screamed as a pink blur kept on him, bowling him over. Its teeth easily penetrated the weak joint of his Azure Guardian armour around the jugular and he died instantly. The spookat dashed off him instantly and lunged at another knight.
More pink blurs dashed through the air, to be stopped by precise shots from Matthew's revolver.
Rulen dashed behind Grantz as soon as the fight started, the beast of a Spiral Knight's Sudaraska smashing down several of the ghosts.
Euclid stood on the middle of the fray and slashed with his Divine Avenger. The manic tide of the battle not phasing him in the slightest.
Another knight was downed by a spookat's dash. It dashed into him and he tumbled over the side of the ledge, into the Clockworks
.
Several minutes passed, neither side gaining a foothold until Euclid drew his gun. He pulled down the trigger and held it. The Obsidian Carbine charged for a moment, then fired.

A black series of tentacles emerged from the ground, pulling down Spookats until there were none left.
"Wow. I wondered what that button did".
"Well done," Ashen said at length. "I thought we were dead for sure."

Several of the accompanying squad were dead, teeth marks making fatal wounds in them.
The party of knights continued through the ghostly rail yard, pistols trained into the enduring night.
After several minutes of walking, they reached a box in the ground. It had an upraised railing and looked identical to the elevator they had taken them from Haven. Euclid stepped in, followed by Grantz, Rulen and finally Parma.

Mathews and Ashen led their squad into the cramped space after that.

The elevator descended into the murky depths.

Daylight shone upon Haven. A few commodities had been set up for the Spiral Knights from the courteous Strangers.
The Auction House stood in the centre of Haven, beyond the elegant looking fountain.
To the east, lay the makings of what we now call the Bazaar. To the north lay the unused, dormant mining facilities that Alpha Squad had entered the Clockworks through. To the east, was unused space.
A warden sat outside the southern entrance, prepared to defend the town with his life.
Flocks of snipes flew through the town lazily, playing some kind of game that only snipes understood.

Feron was in the middle of a heated debate with Captain Ozlo:
"Sir, we can't just SEND knights down there! If Alpha Squad is dead, which they probably are do you think other knights can hack it!?"

"Feron, I value your council but we need to find that energy signature. I think that we should send down squads of knights to only go a shallow distance. We won't send anyone to the bottom yet, but chances are Alpha Squad would have not gone ridiculously deep, either."

"Yes sir, I will start organizing teams immediately"

"See to it that you do," Said Captain Oslo. "We need to get knights down there immediately."

Does anyone like this?

Grantz waved enthusiastically for Euclid to sit down. He complied, sitting down on the dirt near the campfire the squad had set up.
"Sir, everything alright" Grantz asked worriedly. He had known Euclid since they were recruits and liked the other knight.
"The sap here is quite interesting, not to mention the indigenous life forms! I have taken to calling them: Wolvers... " Rulen began.
"Not this again" Parma said sarcastically, hiding her face in her hands while chuckling to herself.
"Parma! It's not something to joke about- you know how seriously I take science! You've always try to push my buttons, ever since we were recruits. I didn't have to volunteer for Alpha Squad you know! You should treat me with a bit more respect, after all I do for this team-"
"RULEN! That's enough out of you!" Euclid ordered, privately irritated at how fast his squad began infighting.
Parma sighed wistfully, privately glad that it had been tall, handsome Euclid that had came to her defence.

This SUCKS. I GIVE UP OKAY!? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED!? Badmouthing this until I quit!? I tried my best but APPARENTLY it wasn't good enough.

The evening continued, as they tend to do. The knights opened tubes of rations, little more then grey nutritious paste. There was little conversation, tension was high.
Rulen glared at Euclid. Then, at Parma. Then he pulled out a small, rectangular device and began to scan the environment.
"Stay close," Grantz cautioned. Parma wordlessly grunted an agreement.
Rulen wandered out to a tree and began to spiel out it's sap.
Grantz said: "We should break camp for the... night? Morning? It's hard to tell down here. Anyway, I will take first watch, then Parma, then Grantz then Rulen. Douse this fire"
Grantz began to kick dust over the flames. Rulen wandered a few feet behind the campfire and dug a hole for himself to sit in. Grantz planted his sword in the dust and began to disassemble and clean his Iron Slug, all the while watching for any sign of the monsters they had met earlier. Parma wearily crashed into the dust.
Meanwhile, a team of knights lead by a man named Doumskall* were about to enter the Clockworks. They loaded into the elevator, and it descended into darkness.
Doumskall thought about his team as the elevator plummeted.

Nogoth, the Shieldbearer. He was short for a knight and exclusively wore a tarnished set of Azure Guardian armour.

Durshevir, the mad one. He was absolutely unpredictable and specialized in melee combat. He used his Final Flourish in combat and occasionally pulled out his Nova Driver to finish enemies from a distance.

Finally, there was the mysterious one. He went by: "Zephyr" but nobody knew his actual given name. He used to wear a cobalt set with a mask, but on Cradle he had donned a Chaos Cowl and Grey Feathered robes. A grey owlite shield was slung across his back. His Leviathan blade clanged against the grated metal of the elevator.

Zephyr remained silent throughout the ride to the first depth.

Nogoth was saying something about combat that Doumskall did not care to hear.

Durshevir chuckled to himself absent-mindedly, as if the most hilarious joke had been told only to him.

Doumskall looked up and down the shaft as if he were a landowner assessing it for renovations. His family had been wealthy on Isora, and felt a strong sense of martial pride, explaining why he had joined the Spiral Knights in the first place.

The elevator ground to a stop, and Nogoth hopped the banister before it could even lower, his shield projecting a personal force field around him. After the elevator stopped, Durshevir hopped forward, giggling incessantly all the way. Zephyr followed, his shield raised and his sword held parallel to the top of it, ready to stab into any who came close. Doumskall followed after them, his Anitigua trained into the field.

The field they had stepped into was a grassy one, bushes lining the sides in an almost organized fashion.

Doumskall almost had time to think it looked like a farm as spikes shot out of the ground.

Nogoth burst into action, leaping at the dozen slime cubes that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere. The rest of the squad charged, except for Doumskall who hung back, not wanting to be impaled. Zephyr jumped onto a slime, squashing it with his feet, then he leaped and impaled one with his sword. The sword parted the dense slime and became lodged in the thick core, and he was thrown to the ground. Six of the slimes prepared to kill him, but Nogoth dashed in front of him, using the newly issued retro thrusters to be in front of the slimes assault. His Aegis took the brunt of the assault, bruising his arm holding it and nearly smashing him to the ground but keeping them both alive. Durshevir pulled out his Nova Driver and laughed as it's super-heated rounds melted the jellies. He laughed with delight as they cooked around him.

"Keep moving," Doumskall ordered, unsure of how to handle a squad.

"If their's more where THAT came from" came the giggling response from Durshevir.

Nogoth opened his mouth to unleash a stinging retort, but Zephyr made a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of his head as if to say: "Don't cross him yet, he's not worth your breath"

Doumskall was about to say something further, when a trio of Lumbers emerged from a hidden passage behind them.

*he needed a serious name XD