Lucas chuckled as he heard the string of profanities addressed his way when the girl crashed at the bottom of the vent. He had to give her credit; she was quite inventive. It was enough to make him feel just a little bit guilty for what he did to her. Was injecting her with drugs and forcing her to betray her comrades ethical – absolutely not. However, when was the last time he had done something ethical in the first place. His very training was one big violation of human rights and a stain on the physician’s oath.

He half-expected Nia to start one of her lectures on how they were supposed to keep the peace and secure a brighter future for humanity.

“But you can’t, can you?” Lucas whispered to himself and fresh pain wrecked his heart. “Because you are most likely dead.”

He slammed his fist on the wall and bit back the tears. “I’ll see you on the other side. All of you.”

How many times had he uttered the words? Too many for his liking. But he never thought he would speak them for Nia or Virgil. The three of them had been together from the very start. They had been the last Gen 3’s in squad Demon. Damn, they had been the last from the entire batch grown from project Osiris. Tess was the closest to them, but she was Gen 6 and the others were Gen 9 and above.

Although Lucas would take a bullet for each one of them without a thought, the bond he felt with Puppeteer and Carthage was something else and the pain of losing them was too much. They had shared thousands of battlefields over their twenty years of service to His Holiness the Emperor. And now it was all gone. He felt lost and alone and he wanted to curse his conditioning from preventing him from giving up.

At least he had been able to restrain himself from shooting the girl the moment she mentioned the name Neverok. Lucas could have ignored her impersonating a Black Confessor, after all, the regulations were not something that applied all that much to squad Demon. But they had a personal grudge to settle with the Commodore. Lilyana Neverok had turned traitor and had started the Baal rebellion, turning her back on her cousin the Emperor. That angered him but was not enough to lose sleep over it. However, she had broken her oath to Virgil and had killed both Hector and Athena.

“We will tear your beating heart and use your skin as a banner while you still draw breath! Remember this Commodore Neverok, the Demons will hunt you to the end of the galaxy!” Virgil’s words echoed in his head.

“I hope you’ve made good on your promise, my friend. Because I might be too late to do anything about it.” Lucas gave out a sigh and leaned against the wall.

The woman Kurtz, had revealed much to him. Not enough to know what was going on, but enough to form a feasible theory. Her knowledge of experimental weapons and armour was at odds with her not knowing basic things. The only way she knew about the Mark 9 Ripper, that was a stripped-down version of his own gun and how she drew a complete blank at what a Black Confessor was, was enough to tell him that he had been way too long in the cryo-pod. On top of that, there was the issue with the empire she was referring to. It could not be the Holy Terran Empire, because that would mean the many religious groups and cults would still have a strong grip.

Her reaction, when he mentioned it, was enough to tell him that it was not that far away in the past. Theoretically, a cryo-pod could work for a thousand years before malfunctioning and another five hundred before completely failing. In the worst-case scenario, Lucas had woken up between ten and fifteen centuries into the future. If he wanted to be an optimist, only two centuries had passed since he had found his way inside the damned thing.

Which reminded him, that he had a more pressing matter to deal with. Getting a connection to the command network was just so that he could form some sort of a plan, compound TZ-2 on the other hand, was vital if he wanted to survive. He had used one of the three dozes he had, meaning he was good for the next three months. And if he was lucky, the next two could last him a further eight.

Lucas was very doubtful he would find the stuff just lying around a medical cabinet. As such securing the chemicals and equipment needed to make more, had to be pushed as his number one priority.

“Chief, can you hear me?” He heard Kurtz activate the comm feed.

“Zoë?! What the…? Where are you?” A man’s voice came from the other side.

“Don’t know. Need help.” Lucas could hear her voice was laboured, as expected. “My heart… And I think I broke my arm…”

“I’ll get the techs to have a fix on your location.” The man paused for a moment before speaking up again, in what Lucas knew was code. “How’s your cough?”

“It’s gone for the moment, but…” He cut her connection.

“Think very carefully, Zoë.” Lucas spoke in a level tone, knowing it would convey his warning far better. “The counter-agent has a very fragile container.”

He tapped the device in his hand and freed her feeds once more. Bartholomew had really outdone himself with the cortex bore he had created. The little thing worked perfectly, giving him complete access and control over the comm implant in the girl’s head.

“… second officer Kurtz!” The panicked voice of the man returned.

“Sorry chief… I blacked out…” Lucas could hear Zoë grinding her teeth in anger.

At least she was smart enough to know where her new loyalty should be. Although he was sure, she was going to find some way to betray him, for now, she was doing as he had hoped.

“My cough could come back at any moment, so you better hurry Chief.” She spoke after a moment.

“Copy that. Team 3 are on their way.”

This was his cue to get moving as well. The cortex bore had found a personal channel logged in miss Kurtz’s cache. One labelled as Dr Werner. And access to a physician would help him solve the issue with TZ-1.

Alexandra von Eisstahl felt anger and hatred in equal amounts. The two months spent on this pile of junk, that someone had the nerve to call a ship, had done little to help her mood. The Council had thought it a fitting punishment to send her to Last Hope. They might have disguised it as a temporary posting so that she could serve as overseer to a very important source of income. But she could recognise it for what it was. A bloody banishment followed by a slow death by fading into obscurity.

She was a Knight Protector. A damned to hell Knight Protector! It was she who stood alone at Sentinel Hill during the food riots. And she was only a neophyte back then, but she had the resolve to crush the charging crowd where her betters had fled. She had been the one to defend the building of the Council when the Vipers had attempted a coup d’état. It was her battle-frame that had the Snake and Sword engraved into it. But most of all, she was Alexandra von Eisstahl, her face was plastered on every propaganda video poster throughout the UR.

And her crime, if one could call it that, was to have had the balls to put to light the corruption of the previous overseer of the mining complex. She knew the man was well connected and had the backing of half the Council, but he had been syphoning half of the earnings for his personal use. It was her duty to act. Her only mistake was that she had done in on a live feed during the annual session. However, Alexandra had been sure the man would not be able to weasel out.

At first, she had been ecstatic, being ordered to personal arrest the man. Until the ship made its exit from no-void at the Lumia relay, the closest transition point to Last Hope. There the second part of the order had reached her.

The mnemonically encoded message pooped, triggered by the thought of it. It fuelled a new fit of rage in Alexandra and she rammed her fist into the status screen next to her.

“Mistress, could you please not do that?” Markus, the head technician of the team responsible for her battle-frame scoffed at her. “Who knows what replacement we will be able to make once we get on the station.”

“It doesn’t matter. She will not walk again.” Alexandra bit back the sour taste the words left in her mouth.

“Not even the Council can keep Scolia grounded. She has pride.” The heavily augmented man disconnected from the cluster of screens and machines surrounding him.

Markus was a small man, just over a meter and a half in height, but he had broad shoulders and a thick neck. His left arm was completely replaced by a full auto-tool kit. The last time Alexandra had made an attempt to count all the different attachments, drills, connectors and so forth, she had stopped at seventy. That was before he had done three more upgrades to it. As for his right one, it was a delicate cybernetic frame made from carbon and dense plastic.

Now that she looked at him for the first time in a year, she could see that the back of his side was shaven and the skin covered in an antiseptic gel. He was preparing to get a fourth cortex implant. Three was already outside safety regulations, but because of his marvellous work on the battle-frame, Alexandra had looked the other way.

“A fourth? Really, Markus?” She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow.

“I need a second processor to analyse all the data at once…” He began to speak but she cut him off.

“Seventy per cent of your brain is already paste. With your current augment level, you have about five years before it is completely melted and another six before your cybernetics fail and you die.” She looked directly into the orange lenses that used to be his eyes.

“Yes, I read the report from medical. They did not clear you for duty after the last examination and contacted me to offer a replacement.” The man shook his head at her words.

“Mistress, they know nothing…”

“I am not finished.” Her face twisted as she came close to him and the smell of machine oil assaulted her. “You get a fourth one and you are dead in three years.”

“That’s just on theory!” Markus snapped at her. “With the new…”

A system-wide feed massage cut the argument short.

“Docking maneuverers to start in fifteen minutes. All crew prepare cargo for gravity shift.”

“Is Scolia ready to walk?” Alexandra looked at the mighty battle-frame locked to the work station.

“Just say when.” The mechanic shared her smile with his grin.

“Captain, I need a channel to the Last Hope mining complex’s security. After that contact Overseer Tharks and inform him I am on board.” She gave the order and closed the link without waiting for confirmation.

“Markus, get me a visual of our new home and redirect it to my optic implant.” Alexandra cut the perception of her left eye and allowed the video feed to replace it.

“It’s ugly.” She scoffed at what she was seeing.

The mining complex was like a cancerous growth outlined by the rust coloured planet behind it. Last Hope was vast as if its constructor had started but never stopped adding new sections. Most of them were cubic by design, with some overlapping others. But near one end it was more rounded, almost like some madman had attached several long cylinders and failed to hide them in angled cages.

Alexandra could clearly make out the enormous chemical fuel refineries attached on the planet-side of the complex. Opposite them were the main foundries, the fires of their smelting furnaces spilling into space. Where once an asteroid ring had been, now there was nothing but clouds of dust, traversed by manned and AI operated mining drones.

Despite all that, only a quarter of the complex was lit and only one of the three space elevators emerging from the planet was operational. The platform at its end crowded by small cargo movers. She did not need to be a genius to guess that it would be centuries before the United Republics could have the complex working at full capacity.

The feed was interrupted by a message written in large violet letters.

“Identify yourself!” A deep voice with a thick Nethra accent demanded almost immediately.

“Security Chief Donovan Rex, I presume.” Alexandra managed to reply in a level voice.

“You presume wrong.” The voice barked at her. “Identify yourself, or you will be charged with illegal tapping.”

She could feel the muscles around her nose begin to contract like the always did when she was beyond angry.

“This is Knight Protector Alexandra von Eisstahl.” She said in a cold voice that had made veterans tremble and sent her authorization code over the feed. “You will connect me with Security Chief Rex right now.”

“My… My apologies ma’am…” The owner of the voice was clearly shaken. “I really want to… But… Commodore Neverok has restricted all private channels…”

“What is your name?” She took a deep breath, trying very hard not to snap.

“Felix… That’s communications operator Felix King… ma’am.” Alexandra could picture the man’s hair turning grey while he spoke.

“Tell me, Mr. King, does a Commodore rank higher than a Knight Protector?” She put just a little bit of steel in her voice.

“No… No, ma’am. But…”

“But what, Mr King?”

“Well, I mean no disrespect ma’am… None at all, but the Commodore is here and you… Well, you are far away.”

Her jaw dropped at what she had just heard. A mere Commodore had them scared like little children, the level of professionalism of the security staff was below abysmal. Alexandra kept silent for a full minute, trying to string together enough words to convey her outrage in a meaningful way.

“Listen to me very carefully, communications operator King. You will patch me to Chief Rex in the next ten seconds, or I will personally crucify you, using your own bones as nails, the moment my ship docks.”

“I understand ma’am.” The man’s voice was hollow and quivering. “This is the best I can do. I can patch you the Chief’s squad channel.”

“… keep your traps shut and don’t say… Oh, shit…” A guttural voice with a light Beliar accent was speaking when the connection was established. “How can I be of assistance, Knight Protector?”

“Chief Donovan, I should have you and your entire crew of clowns lined before a military board. However, since that would require too much paperwork and would be a waste of Academy Command’s time, you can come and meet me at Docking Station 2-24.”

“I would love to do that, Mistress von Eisstahl, but…”

“Let me rephrase that, Security Chief First Class Rex. You will be at Docking Station 2-24 in two hours, or I will carry out a Decimation Order.” Alexandra closed the feed and slammed her fist in the broken status screen to vent some of the frustration she felt.

Virginia entered the tech-shop that was her quarters with a soft sigh. The long walk from the dig-site had not helped her clear her thoughts. Things had gone terribly wrong and there would be an inquiry for sure. Alexei was bound to place all the blame at her feet and if he could convince Overseer Tharks of this, she could kiss her career goodbye.

She had no idea what could have triggered the warnings. There could have been something her team might have missed in the debris. Or there could have been some system connection or a sub-station behind it. Although that was very unlikely because that was obviously a doorway they had been clearing. That was why she had used the laser, instead of gathering some of the miners to help her clear it by hand.

It went against her nature to say it, but Virginia had to admit it was just bad luck and nothing more. However, there was the problem with the shooter. If it were an AI bipedal combat mech, she could have accepted it. But that thing looked like a complete humanoid cybernetic. It was obvious from its movements, accuracy and the way it shrugged damaged. Not to mention that it had escaped an arc-emitter mine. No human could survive that kind of punishment. It suddenly dawned on her; the girl from security was dead… They were going to blame that on her as well, Virginia was sure of it.

But a humanoid cybernetic unit? That was too farfetched. The Third Empire did not have that kind of technology. And even if they did, why would they use it to guard a far-away mining complex? No, that had to be Lost Technology. Perhaps the scientific community had been wrong. Perhaps the Third Empire had not abandoned the complex because of the Liberation Wars, perhaps they had done so because they had found something. Something very dangerous. That would explain all the interior damaged and the data logs Dr Kruger had found in the mainframe.

Virginia had to contact him and urge him to drop everything else and focus only on their decryption. They had to contain some vital information. Some clue as to what had happened and why. However, the archive was massive, nearly seven exabytes of information. All encrypted and damaged. She could help him, once the emergency protocol was lifted by the Commodore.

Fresh pain blossomed in her abdomen when she hit the edge of the work table stuffed in the room. Too late Virginia realised the lights had not turned on and with the door behind her closed, she could not see a thing.

“Cursed thing needs to be repaired again.” She hissed. “Lights!” She barked the command.

The fluorescent lamp flickered for a second and illuminated the six by six-meter room. It was in the same messy state she had left it in in the morning. Stripped down components and machinery cluttered the work table and floor. Her bed was a dishevelled pile of sheets and covers. However, there was one major difference. The cybernetic unit was sitting on the edge and had a heavy coil pistol trained on her.

“Gha…” It was the only sound her frozen mind could force her dried throat to produce.

“Dr Werner, it is so nice to put a face to the name.” The thing spoke in a soft voice with a slight accent that reminded her of Alexei.

It stood up and kicked the desk chair in her direction. The small wheels rolled soundlessly on the metallic floor. With a slight flick of the gun, the thing motioned for her to sit. Without protesting Virginia obeyed, her mind finally remembering how her body was supposed to function. She triggered her feed with a controlled blink.

[email protected]#$$&9: ERRRRR++ >

It was completely scrambled. She had no lifeline and no way to call for help, not without having her head turned into a fine mist.

“Don’t bother, doctor.” The figure returned to the edged of the bed and took a small handheld device which she could not place at all.

“Interesting isn’t it. I would love to tell you how it works, but I don’t think I could. The one who made it was a genius.” It took one of the artefacts she had found at section 11 a month ago.

“I take it you are not a physician.” The thing waved the artefact around as if it was just junk.

“Be careful with that! It is priceless!” Virginia snapped forgetting for a moment that her life was in danger.

The figure froze and looked at the item in its hand. Warm laughter came from the helmet it wore, completely destroying her theory that it was a machine.

“Priceless? Expensive, maybe, but not priceless. It is a bloody broken Mark 3’s heat vent with a part of the extension mechanism attached to it.” The man, Virginia was almost sure of it now, threw the item on the floor. “I should know, I have repaired the damned thing over a dozen times.”

He locked the gun to his hip and leaned on the edge of the table just an arm’s length from her. He did not need a gun to kill her, she knew it and it terrified her.

“You look like someone who knows a thing or two about all this.” He spread out his arms indicating all the items, artefacts and relics piled in her room.

“And since the good folks at security will be busy for the next few hours, I had a very interesting idea.”

He placed his hands around the helmet and while removing it spoke.

“Let’s have a chat.”