The First Mission

Inside the control room of the battleship, Clay maintained a peaceful look as he as observed the real time image projected on the screen. They are currently at warp and contrary to sci-fi movies he watched back on earth where everything looks stretched as if moving inside a tunnel, it’s actually the opposite as everything is just black. As if they have been engulfed with nothingness.

Thinking back, his plan is to attempt to create Heaven Qi Veins and find time to breakthrough during the trip. While there is no telling if it will be a success, he believes that it should be the same principle as to how he creates Spiritual Qi Veins. The problem is, Kolas actually refused to give him his preconditions and ruined his plan.

He may have gotten stronger after reaching Nascent level but his guts is telling him it is still not enough especially that these Ascendants are not only equip with battle suits but real 30-meter avatars.

“Now as promised and for this ship’s official records, I will now disclose the contents of the mission.” Clay looked at Kolas who suddenly turned to him. Aside from their Pilot and Engineer who are busy monitoring their screens, the other person who got interested was their astro-physicist, Arkoni who looks tortured from boredom.

*Click

Kolas flicked his fingers and the central screen projected an image that looks like an asteroid.

“Is that what I think it is?” The first person to react was Arkoni. “No wonder you’ve been so secretive.”

“Yes and indeed that is a nest of Evolved or Ascended Primordial Octapedde Nest.”

“Reveal all the maps taken and all the signal records for both True and Subspace 1 Dimension. I don’t know why you’re only telling us this now but it may not be too late once I’ve…”

“There is no need to worry yourself, Dr. Arkoni.” Kolas interrupted then continued. “I’ve paid a huge price for this information and I had commissioned multiple experts to draft the safest telemetry which we are currently at now. No offense doctor but we will still need your help during and after the fight.”

Clay was confused as the watch the two argue. When he heard the name of the beasts they will be encountering, the first thing that came to mind were those giant snakes that are randomly appearing from a spatial tear during his initiation. Since the two of seem to ignore him, Clay asked, “Tell me Alice, what is that nest for?”

“I am unable to verify the image but if what Lieutenant said is true that it is an Ascended Primordial Octapedde Nest, then that asteroid is a temporary residence for the Octapedde colony as they are allowing the fruits of Kantrafeya Tree to fully mature. The fruit is a primary ingredient in concocting pills needed to breakthrough to Rank 6, 7th Ascendance.”

“You could have just asked me, you know. Because it’s my job, you know.” Clay ignored Dr. Arkoni’s complain as he was more interested in Kolas. He had been finding a perfect time to agitate his feelings so he could grasp whether there is a sinister plot awaiting him or not. But so far, Kolas was like an immovable mountain with thousands of years of wisdom.

Before their departure at Minraca Star System, Clay had already prepared his escape just in case. As the captain, he has exclusive privileges only accessible to him which includes disabling all escape pods but he did leave one for him.

“Computer, begin countdown and open all channels then prepare the main cannons.” Kolas ordered.

“Do you authorize, Captain?”

“Yes, Alice go ahead.” Since day one, he is not willing that anyone can just give command to the A.I. Doll.

Kolas was still indifferent despite Clay’s obvious methods of getting into his nerves.

(Countdown starting in 180 seconds, 179, 178, 177)

“Attention all crew members. We will be approaching designated telemetry in less than three minutes. All Guardians on standby, please have yours suits ready and we will proceed as planned. As soon as countdown reaches zero, the first team will count ten and exit the launch pad.”

(143, 142, 141, 140…)

Clay touched the arms of the chair and activated his aura. During his briefing about the ship, he will only need to concentrate his Dao around the cannon including the bullet and when it is ready for launch, he must switch his Dao to offense to activate and stimulate the bullet before it is fired.

“Computer, we only have one shot at this so the moment we go out of warp, locate this asteroid immediately and fire the first cannon. Count another 2 seconds before firing the second cannon. Are we clear?”

“Acknowledge the Lieutenant, Alice.”

“Acknowledged, Captain. Automatic controls online. Please set the cannons ready.”

(40, 39, 38 37…)

Clay sent his Qi and surrounded the two gigantic cannons underneath the ship. He may not have a full grasp of the situation but it looks like their objective is to detonate a bomb to neutralize the beasts. Similar to his methods, the best way is to create a gap regardless of methods. He reckons that the explosion will create a blast to penetrate the beasts’ defenses and block their circulations making them sitting ducks.

*Swish

“Remember, if those beasts were given time to spread out, I’m joining the tactical squad. I leave everything in your hands.”

Clay noticed how Kolas exited the door. He is starting to worry. The ship is synchronized with him and he can tell the location of every crew member and aside from him and Dr. Arkoni, all of them are Ascendants. His biggest problem now is the Pilot and the Engineer.

(20, 19, 18..)

(10, 9 8, 7…)

The crucial moment has already arrived and while Clay still focused on the cannons, he did not let his guard down on the two Ascendants in the room.

“Should I escape now?” Clay muttered to himself

(5, 4, 3,)

“Let’s gamble for now.” Suppose he is able to ride an escape pod, can he really escape 22 Ascendants equipped with full battle suits on his tail? If one of them has a shuttle capable of interstellar travel, then it would be senseless and comical to even think about escaping. Clay cleared his thoughts and focused on the two bullets contained within the cannons to start their ignition.

2

1

0

(Detected image with 100% accuracy.)

“Fire!”

*Boom!

1

2

“Fire!”

*Boom!

The distance of the ship and the nest is around 30 kilometers so there was a delay in the explosion but when the bullets reached their targets and detonated, it created a massive and terrifying ripples of energy that even the ship trembled upon contact with the force.

*Cragg!!

“What’s that?”

“What’s that?”

“Bridge, confirm all sources of energy. Is that another beast?”

“Shut up and launch now.”

“Move!”

“Move!”

Clay heard the conversation of the Guardians. He has no idea what happened but the explosion just now gave him a scare. If he were at the center of the explosion or even close to it, he is positive that even if he activated his Dao at full power, it may not even sufficient to ensure his safety.

Clay clenched his teeth.

He must reach Ascendance as soon as possible.

“Alice, polarize the view screen. Show me all signs of movements regardless if they are inanimate objects.”

Clay activated his Godly eyes and at the same time, observed the images projected by the A.I. With this distance, he should be able to tell if there is a monster closing towards the spatial tear the 20 Guardians went to.

“No beasts detected, would you like to try another method?”

“No, keep on scanning until all the Guardians resurface.”

For some reason, communications with the Guardians have all been cut off as soon as they entered the tear.

“Would you like to move the ship, Captain?”

“No not yet! Ready the cannon, on my mark, we’ll fire two more sets of bullets.” Arkoni retorted this time. “There is a reason this place is called Forbidden Zone. Alice, continue monitoring signs of any spatial distortion.”

“Understood.”

As soon as Arkoni finished talking, Clay felt a minute ripple of Qi coming from the Pilot and the Engineer. It seems like they are at a point whether he or they will make a first move.

“Dr. Arkoni, do you know how long it would take them to retrieve those fruits?”

“Don’t ask me. Those explosions just now, are you sure that was a regular 1ST Phase Dao explosion?”

“Dr. Arkoni, I’m asking you. Do you know how long before the team will come out of the spatial tear.”

“It’s not a math problem I can solve, Captain. Alice, switch to subspace frequency 3 and help me analyze everything that is suspicious.”

“Switching to Subspace Frequency 3.” There was thee seconds of radio noise then Alice said, “Captain Clay, distorted frequencies indicate that 4 massive spatial tears may activate around us. Please escape this place immediately.”

“Traces of Guardian 15 and 8 just resurfaced. They seem fine but are not willing to abdicate the spatial tear. Something’s blocking our communications channels.”

“Move the ship towards their location now and ready to fire the cannons.” Arkoni said as he observed the signal patterns on the screen.

“Do you authorize, Captain?”

“Yes and how long before the new cracks open.”

“Estimated time from original data is 833 seconds but something seems to expedite crack formation.”

“Captain, are you sure that was 1ST Phase Dao imbued on the two blasts earlier? You see, spatial tears formed by these Ascended Beasts are very predictable but…”

“Get to the point Doctor.”

“We have less than 2 minutes, Captain. If we don’t leave in two minutes, our ship will be crushed by Dimensional Shift Restoration.”

“Captain, communications have been established.”

(We need to go now.)

(One minute.)

(Buy us time.)

(I already told you, there is something wrong with this spatial tear.)

(Don’t be greedy. We’ve gotten what we need.)

(I said one minute)

A noisy and heated argument was broadcasted within the ship.

“Everyone, this is your Captain. This area had become unstable and if we don’t leave soon, we will be caught in a Dimensional Shift Restoration. Countdown in 75 seconds. Return to the ship now.”

(Move!)

(Move now!)

(We’ve secure the tree. Moving out now.)

(29, 28,27…)

(Team Delta respond.)

(Team Delta respond.)

“Captain, six Mechs have yet to come out.”

(20, 19, 18)

(Team Delta respond.)

(We’ve got the tree.)

“Captain, six Mechs have come out.”

(13, 12, 10, 9)

“Captain, all Mechs have boarded.”

“Good! Alice, get us out of here now.”