1. A - 9, B - 3
2. B - 5, C - 7
***
Database Break and Entry
The database facility is located on a higher level. I run through the route in my mind as I keep moving down the corridor. It has been ten minutes since we made our entry; due to the size of the fortress, the internal defences are both automated and localized, rather than being run from a central computer. This means that there is no possibility of gaining master access from the local systems; any intruder would have to fight their way through block by block, but on the other hand, it also meant that if I managed to take over the local systems, they will find it very difficult to override from the central computer. Of course, given that the electronic countermeasures of the Star League are some of the best in the entire galaxy – they would have to be, to rely so heavily on drones – I’m not about to waste my time doing so. Breaking and entering, grabbing data; these I can do relatively easily. Something more complex like reprogramming their entire defensive system to reconfigure the parameters for hostile and friendly targets would definitely waste too much time, particularly as this is the first time I have had a chance to encounter how their system works.
Up ahead, just before the elevator, is one of the ‘killing rooms’ that the passages are designed to funnel intruders towards. I can expect it to be barricaded by now with security forces and turrets. It would take nothing short of a heavy assault squad to break through, but luckily I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
“Boshen,” I call out to the head attached to my backpack.
“Yes, Bel-Senya?”
“Do you absolutely have to chant whenever you cloak?”
“It is an expression of my faith. You might as well ask me not to breathe, Dragonwarden!” he recoils in genuine horror.
“You aren’t breathing. You don't have lungs to breathe with. I don't even know how you can even talk!”
“That is because my faith gives me strength, strength enough to surpass problems such as that of not having a body! After all, who needs a body when the eyes are already recording the most glorious experience any Spirit could hope to have?” grins Boshen proudly.
He had been the only one to volunteer for the operation, so I guess I really can’t complain.
“Fine. Could you just… whisper your chant or something?”
“Whisper my chant? Dragonwarden, I do not understand your request.” He truly looks perplexed, as if whispering a chant is the most alien thing in the world to him. I heave a sigh and reconsider my approach. Opening the door would attract their attention anyway, cloaked or not. I don’t need to be convincing Boshen about this right now. Maybe later.
I jack the shielding on my suit up to the maximum, transferring power away from the weapons systems. The door slides open with a mild hiss and I plunge in, Boshen screaming away about the glory of the Empire behind me. One hundred and twenty milliseconds before the turrets and droids begin to fire. Sixteen turrets, twenty five droids. Three hundred milliseconds before the security forces react. Eight men, armed with fletchettes and carbines. The room is a circle roughly fifteen metres in diameter. All targets are within range. My mind is focused. Keen. Sharp.
Every particle in the room is known to me.
They will break.
Colour itself drains from the blue-streaked world as their movements still. Bullets that are just exiting the barrels of their guns splinter, tumbling harmlessly and slowly in the field of my power. The gleaming bodies of the turrets crack. Pieces of plating begin to peel away from the armoured suits of the security forces. Where their skin has been exposed, it flays. Perfect little globes of flesh and blood float from their bodies as they come apart bit by bit. A great dent radiates outward from my position as the metal floor buckles. The turrets crumple, buzzing noisily as they die. The droids break, their parts scattering. The men are forced to their knees, their eyes filled with uncomprehending terror. Then they, too die, collapsing in an explosion of bloody mist.
“Well, this is a rather messy way of solving things. I think I’ll leave it for emergencies.” I breathe out as the world returns to normal around me. It gives me a headache to maintain the field for too long, but this is still within my limits. I realize that Boshen is not saying anything. Strange – I’m sure I kept him out of the field of effect. “Boshen, are you okay? Boshen?”
“Oh, oh yes, I am fine, Lord Warden! I am just… spellbound.”
I run towards the nearest elevator, forcibly inserting my tendrils into the panel. I don’t have enough time to run up the flights of stairs; I’ll have to chance the elevator. “Spellbound? What do you mean?”
“This… power. This is what keeps our Emperor warded in his black throne, right?”
“No, not really. That’s something else.” I finish making a minor tweak to the controls, making it so that the elevator will always be detected as being one floor down. As the doors open, I get in hurriedly.
“Oh, don’t be modest! The Dragonwarden's power manifests itself through his every gesture, his every step! I cannot believe that I, alone of my brethren, have been privileged to witness the Warden’s power first hand. This is more than a lowly Spirit like me deserves,” breathes Boshen heavily. “We will write hymns. Long, epic hymns about this exalted day! We will immortalize this in sacred song!”
“…We?”
“Why, the Brotherhood of the Dragonwarden, of course!”
I sigh and ask Boshen for a cloak before he begins explaining everything about this Brotherhood. He obliges happily and begins a chant. It’s a new chant this time, incorporating subject matters like the slowed river of time. A few seconds later, the elevator reaches our destination. The database facility lies just to my left, right after getting off. The guards have been drawn off to the level below us, and I manage to enter without a fuss. The master database itself is a massive sapphire orb as large as a regular CF floating above a complex control panel. It looks like the storage medium is light. I plug my tendrils in and feel my mind instantly assailed by an immensely strong ICE. As expected of the League… their cyber-defenses are nothing to be sneezed at.
“Master, we can’t beat this thing,” cries Yua. “It’s going to fry our mind in seconds!”
The sheer size of the database means that I won’t be able to dump everything and sort it out at my leisure. I’ll have to focus on a couple of topics of interest and log out quickly. After that, I'd have to get out of here before I'm surrounded by every single droid and soldier in the vicinity.
***
(Pick two)
A. Recordings where the Masters have made contact with the Council, along with what is known about them.
B. Every detail I can get about the Vajra Shula fortress-weapon, including strengths and vulnerabilities.
C. Specific about the artefact powering the Vajra Shula and how to utilize it.
D. Information on the Star League’s military movements and overall strategy in the sector.
E. Data on every Council member and their current whereabouts.
