The walk through the streets was quiet and quick, with the non-amaranthians following Octavia through the streets. To them, it was a dull affair; row after row of symmetrical grey buildings on the paved ground – but to Octavia, the streets they passed were filled with lights, sounds, and colours. A steady feed of faint music and ambiance bled through Octavia’s neurolink, providing a lively and cheerful atmosphere as they made their way towards the planetary administration complex. It was a welcome break from the monotonous metal hallways and service tunnels that made up Federation warships, and she was glad to be back among her people even after the short period spent away.

“So, you have to tell me – what’s it like being a Guardian? Are all the stories of the heroics true? What about your armour? Is it true that it takes a year to build a single Guardian suit? Do you really have upgrades that speed up your perception of time in combat? Have you ever killed anyone?” Arcturus prattled on as he walked a foot in front of Octavia, his head turned to look over his shoulder as he walked and talked.

“No, yes, yes, no,” Octavia replied with a faintly amused tone, rolling her eyes as she did, “You’d be better off asking Vita if you want the unabridged version.”

“Octy doesn’t like to brag,” Vita remarked playfully as she skipped ahead to walk alongside Arcturus, “She doesn’t think being a Guardian is a big deal, believe it or not,” she added, shooting Octavia a teasing glance over her shoulder as she continued.

“Not a big deal? Are you kidding me? Being a Guardian is the dream of every amaranthian in the Empire!” Arcturus exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air excitedly as he spun on his heels to face Octavia with wide-eyed disbelief, back-peddling without breaking his pace.

“It’s not as glorious as the holovids make it out to be,” Octavia remarked, offering a dismissive shrug, “It’s a lot of repetitive exercises and standing on parade in front of the Empire complex,” she admitted awkwardly.

“What the hell are you talking about now?” Jace asked with an annoyed sigh, “Are we there yet?”

“He’s very impatient, isn’t he?” Arcturus noted curiously, his holographic gaze shifting over towards the human in the back of the column. He rolled his eyes after a moment with a scoff before turning and gesturing, “That’s where we’re going!”

The building he had gestured to was a grand affair, its digitecture sculpted to look like a grand complex of finely carved sandstone, complete with decorative columns and a wide set of stairs leading up to ornate double doors. More banners hung off of the front of the building bearing the sigil of House Tiberius, fluttering in the wind as they approached. Ambient fanfare was emitted from the complex, sounding like several traditional Imperial court songs on repeat so the streets surrounding the complex were never without the sounds of horns and strings.

“Private conversation, Jace,” Octavia remarked dryly before pointing to the building they were approaching, “That’s the one we’re going to. Almost there.”

“How can you tell? It looks exactly the same as every other building on the street,” Alex asked curiously, jogging a few steps to catch up with Octavia as she peered at the building in question.

“What you’re seeing is just the physical structure – we decorate our buildings with digitecture to give each a unique appearance,” Octavia explained, giving Alex a sidelong look, “It’s something we’ll have to keep in mind when hunting the Ais; if they’ve cracked into the local network they could be using digitecture to hide.”

Alex hummed curiously in response, nodding in thought. She said nothing though, content to sit in silence for a few moments as they finished crossing over to the building they were approaching. The rest of the squad were similarly silent as they followed their amaranthian guide, lost in the symmetrical and featureless city without access to the local network.

“And here we are!” Arcturus declared as he bounded up the steps to the front doors. With a dramatic flair, he waved his hands in front of the double doors, causing them to swing inwards to reveal the luxuriously decorated complex within. Polished sandstone floors with decorative pillars lining an extended entryway, leading up to twin curving staircases that allowed access to a second-floor balcony. The fanfare quieted down within the building, though the digital orchestra could still be heard faintly through the walls to provide a phantom ambiance.

“Well, this is… boring,” Jace commented as he came to a stop within the doorway, looking inside, “It’s just the same as outside! Grey and empty!” He exclaimed; irritation evident in his voice as he squinted into the hall.

“Again; digitecture,” Octavia remarked shortly, her tail flicking in apparent irritation behind her, “Just stay close to me,” she added with a sigh as she strode into the room, making her way off towards the back where Arcturus was leading them.

“Fucken digitecture,” Jace remarked snidely, but he followed Octavia into the building regardless, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he shuffled along.

They were led in silence up the stairs and to a door at the very center of the second-floor balcony; once there, Arcturus once again waved his hands dramatically in front of the door to make it swing open, revealing a lavish office space inside. An elder amaranthian with greying black fur was sitting at an ornate wooden desk with a series of holoscreens floating above the surface. Upon seeing the door open, she immediately swept her hand through the screens to dismiss them and stood up with her back straight and shoulders squared.

“Guardian Tiberius! So, it’s true!” she exclaimed in surprise, her eyes wide as she watched the group approach, “And here I thought Arcturus was pulling my leg.”

“No leg-pulling here, ma’am,” Octavia remarked as she came to a stop in front of the desk, folding her hands behind her back in a parade display, “We heard you have a machine problem.”

“That we do,” the administrator remarked regretfully with a nod. Her eyes flicked to the rest of the group, her gaze lingering on each visage for a few moments before she spoke up, “I’m Duchess Aurelia Arcturus Numerius, the leader of this colony. Thank you for coming so quickly.”

“Thank you for having us on your planet, Duchess Numerius,” Lieutenant B’roka remarked politely, bowing his head towards her as he did, “The Federation appreciates your cooperation.”

“The Amaranthian Empire has always been a proud member of the Startide Federation, Lieutenant. We are honoured to have you here,” she remarked before her eyes flicked towards Octavia, “Especially with a Guardian at your side.”

“Thank you, Duchess,” Octavia remarked, thankful that her helmet could cover her flushed features, “We have a report from the Imperial complex about the situation here, but would you mind giving us your version?”

“Of course, Guardian,” Aurelia replied with a kind smile. She paused and did a double-take, looking back at the squad that was behind Octavia.

Octavia couldn’t help but notice the awkward expression on Aurelia’s face, drawing her attention to the crew behind her. She almost had to do a double-take herself at the sight. The crew members were standing haphazardly around the room, all of them unknowingly interacting with the digiculture around them.

Jace was pouting with his hands in his pockets as he stood inside a chair, his legs phased through the seat as he gazed around the office. The Lieutenant was half-obscured by a decorative pillar that he was standing in while Alex awkwardly rocked on the balls of her feet back and forth through the opposite pillar. Octavia couldn’t help the small bark of laughter that escaped her at the sight.

“What?” Jace asked sharply when he noticed Octavia’s gaze and the sound of her laugh.

“Maybe we should do this off the network,” Octavia suggested as she turned her head towards the Duchess once again.

“That may be for the best,” Aurelia agreed as she wrenched her gaze away from the Federation soldiers clipping through her furniture.

“Damn normies,” Vita remarked, her lips splitting ear-to-ear in a grin as she poked her purple digits against the side of Alex’s head, “All you’d need is a drill right here. Bzzt! Lick of anesthesia, quick installation, Bob’s your uncle and Fanny’s your aunt! Welcome to the future, kid,” she remarked with a bark of laughter. Arcturus’s own laughter joined in with Vita’s as they clustered around the people who couldn’t see them, leaning in and examining them as they devolved into joyful mockery at the expense of the non-amaranthian squad mates.

Octavia rolled her eyes as she tuned out the DIs, letting them have their fun as she shifted her perception. Her view of the DIs faded along with the rest of the digitecture in the office, giving way to the dull grey walls and featureless metal furniture. From Aurelia’s soured expression, she could only assume that the Duchess had done the same.

The two amaranthians shared a look for a moment as they stood within the featureless room that the rest of the crew were seeing. Without the digitecture it was a miserable place without so much as a lick of detail to focus on. The bare cement and metal were almost painfully simple, making it difficult to focus on anything but how miserable it was in the windowless cement box.

Without a word, the two came to an agreement. The warmth of the digitecture flooded back into Octavia’s senses as she shifted back into the network. The Federation soldiers would just have to do with clipping through furniture they couldn’t see for the time being - if they wanted to interact with digitecture, they could have become Imperial citizens.

“Enjoy your trip into realspace?” Vita asked teasingly with a grin, welcoming Octavia back to the digital veil with a dumb look.

“Shut it,” Octavia muttered dismissively, rolling her eyes as she stepped up to the ornate wooden desk.

As she got settled with the digitecture around them once again, Aurelia reached under her desk and procured a physical map from within one of the drawers. Unrolling the laminated piece onto the surface of the desk, she pinned the corners down and revealed an overhead view of the city and the surrounding coast and woods. Lieutenant B’roka and the humans clipped awkwardly through digital furniture as they clustered around the desk, peering down at the information with curious eyes.

“So, obviously this is Discovery,” Aurelia remarked, waving her hand over the city proper, “Within the borders, we’re more-or-less safe. We haven’t had any attacks or machine sightings within the city itself. All of the attacks have occurred on this road here,” she explained as she pointed to one road which functioned as the primary way in and out of the city. It led out into the forest, along the coast, and towards the north.

“Where does the road lead?” Alex interjected quickly, “Isn’t Discovery the only colony on the planet?”

“It leads to a logging site and iron mine along the coast, with ore concentrations as high as one hundred percent. It’s a vital source of material for the growth and development of the colony, and we keep a full-time encampment up there with workers and machinery. Shipments are sent regularly back and forth; food, medicine, and tech get sent up, and shipments of wood and iron are sent back. However, the rogue AIs have been targeting the return shipments,” she explained, drawing her finger down the road towards Discovery.

“Casualties?” Lieutenant B’roka asked shortly.

“Twelve so far,” Aurelia replied, “Two convoys of three trucks, each with a driver and a passenger. They block the road, hold up the trucks, and kill anyone who resists them. Those who comply are beaten and left on the road. They leave the trucks and the wood, but they take most of the iron – my best guess is they have a hideout somewhere close enough to the road to be able to haul all of that iron without needing vehicles.”

“A safe bet,” B’roka remarked quietly, leaning in to peer at the map, “Do you have any word as to how they got here in the first place?”

“We logged a short-range shuttle landing in the woods a few weeks ago, right before the attacks began. I assume they stole the shuttle in Destiny and flew across the star system to here,” Aurelia replied, circling a wide swatch of the woods near the road, “We lost sight of it somewhere in this area. Discovery isn’t equipped with defences or monitoring devices; the city was only established ten years ago.”

“Have you deployed any Imperial Enforcers to the area?” Octavia asked, her eyes flicking up towards the Duchess curiously.

“We have, but they haven’t turned up anything, and the aggressors haven’t attacked the Enforcers. We suspect they’re only interested in the supplies, not a fight,” Aurelia replied with a regretful tone, “They’ve conducted searches along the road and the nearby area – they’ve even found tracks which they’ve followed into the woods. But this forest is so dense that tracks get disrupted very easily.”

“Losing tracks will not be an issue for us, Duchess Numerius,” B’roka reassured as he straightened up, “We brought a specialist.”

“I figured you would,” Aurelia replied with a kindly smile, “Was there any more information you needed?”

“I think that’s everything,” Octavia remarked, glancing over her shoulder at the group to confirm. When no one else said anything, she turned her attention back towards the Duchess and gave a nod, “Yep, that’s everything.”

“You’re welcome to help yourself to the Enforcer armoury and motor pool. We don’t have much, but a vehicle would at least make the search a little easier,” Aurelia remarked, swiping her hand in the air to bring up a holoscreen. She tapped on several options before Octavia’s retinal display flashed with a notification, prompting her to open it. When she did it informed her that she had been given full administrator privileges in the network.

“Thank you, Duchess. We’ll definitely take advantage of the opportunity,” Octavia remarked thankfully, giving a single nod in response, “If that’s all, we’ll be off. We have a rogue hive to deal with.”

“That will be all, Guardian,” Aurelia replied with a smile, “Thank you.”

With a short, respectful bow, Octavia turned and led the way out of the office, the squad following shortly behind her. She could faintly hear Vita saying bye to Arcturus, but she didn’t stick around to catch the details, instead making her way back out to the street with single-minded determination. Once they were out on the street, they paused and gathered into a cluster, facing one another to catch up.

“So, what’s the plan, L-T?” Alex asked, turning her gaze up towards B’roka curiously.

“I was about to ask Guardian Tiberius the same question,” the Lieutenant remarked, the edge of his tone giving way to a playful voice as he turned his head to face Octavia.

“Since when is she in charge?” Jace hissed, crossing his arms as his face contorted into a displeased pout.

“Since none of us can see half of the shit on Amaranthian planets,” Mackenzie remarked sharply, “It’d be the blind leading the blind if the Lieutenant was giving orders here.”

“You are correct, Flight Officer O’laughlin,” B’roka agreed sagely, “This is Guardian Tiberius’s nation – we are guests here.”

As all eyes turned towards her, Octavia blinked in surprise and awkwardly cleared her throat as her cheeks began to fill up with color, an intense heat washing through the back of her mind as anxiety clawed at her. Her heart began to race and she had to bite back the sensation of nausea that threatened to overwhelm her, keeping her frozen in place and silent. It was one thing to take the lead in speaking to other amaranthians, but it was another thing entirely to make the decisions for a squad of professional soldiers.

“C’mon Octy, don’t be like that,” Vita reassured, draping a purple arm over her shoulders as she leaned in against her host, “I know you’ve got a problem with being in charge and having people listen to you, but they’re right; you’re the only one with insight here.”

“So, what’s it gonna be, foxy?” Jace asked, tilting his head in her direction pointedly.

“Not a fox,” Octavia replied on impulse, only to groan in irritation as she realized she had taken the bait again. Fixing Jace with a glare from behind her visor, she finally sighed after a moment and gave a single nod, “Alright, well… Our first step should be grabbing a vehicle from the Enforcers. The Duchess gave me administrator privileges in the network, so we can head straight into the motor pool and grab a truck without checking in with anyone. Then we should drive out to the area and begin conducting our search.”

“When we get there, Zuur can sniff out the machines. It could smell a needle in a haystack if it wanted to,” Alex remarked with an eager expression, “Should make finding the hive a piece of cake.”

“Xaxar can track machines through scent?” Octavia asked in surprise. While she had plenty of time to study the xaxar race during the weeks of travel on the Scales of Justice, the information available was slim at best. They had been blacklisted long before the Omni had begun their crusade through the galaxy, and as such, they had mostly kept to themselves.

“If you blindfolded Zuur and stuck it in the middle of a hangar bay it could pick out our ship with its nose alone,” Alex remarked with a grin before suddenly pausing, her expression turning fearful, “Just don’t actually blindfold Zuur unless you want to die.”

“Noted,” Octavia remarked, forcing down a slight jolt of fear that raced through her spine. Taking a steadying breath, she turned towards one of the nearby buildings and pointed, “That’s the Enforcer station – the motor pool is around the side. Start walking back to the landing pad and I’ll meet you there,” she suggested, glancing between the faces around her to confirm that there were no objections. When no one said anything opposed, she turned and steadily strode away from the group, making her way off to the motor pool.

“See? You’re a natural!” Vita exclaimed eagerly as she strode alongside Octavia.

“Thanks, Vi,” Octavia remarked with an unsteady sigh as she decompressed in solitude.

With an armoured truck secured from the Enforcer motor pool, Octavia enjoyed the solitude of the ride back to the landing platform, chatting with Vita along the way. Eventually, she pulled up to the side street next to the landing pad and killed the engine, stepping out of the armoured truck with a faint groan as she stretched her back.

“Enforcer trucks are not built for comfort,” Vita remarked as she twisted her back from side to side, a pained expression on her face, “Octy, how is your back so fucked up? You’re twenty years old, you shouldn’t feel like an old woman after a five-minute drive!”

“Blame it on sleeping in one spot for too long,” Octavia remarked bitterly as her spine popped, instantly flooding her back with a sensation of relief. With a sigh she closed the door and rounded the truck, making her way to the base of the stairs where she could see the rest of the crew waiting for her.

“Yo, that’s a sick truck!” Jace exclaimed suddenly, his eyes widening with a twinkle of excitement. Without waiting he dashed over to the truck, gripping the edge of the bed to peer in, “Oh man! We can fit Zuur back here no problem! Dibs on riding in the bed!” he shouted excitedly as he hefted himself up into the bed, stepping on the exposed tire to reach.

“Jace is a car guy?” Octavia asked in surprise as she watched Jace race past her, a look of curiosity etched onto her face behind her visor.

“Yup! Believe it or not, he used to race cars on a hive world,” Alex remarked, keeping her voice low as she leaned in towards Octavia with a grin, “Not much of an engine-head, but he damn-well knows how to drive.”

“Good to know,” Octavia remarked, her interest piqued before she turned her head back to the rest of the group. Raising her voice for the rest of them to hear, she spoke up, “The truck has two seats up front - I’ll drive and I’ll take someone up front with me. Everyone else either has to sit in the bed or hang onto the rapid deployment bars on the roof.”

“Shotgun!” Mackenzie suddenly called excitedly, bouncing on her feet with uncontained energy, “I’m not gonna pass up an opportunity to sit with this cutie here,” she added, shooting a playful wink at Octavia before bounding off towards the passenger door without another word.

Thankful that her deep blush was hidden by her helmet once again, she let out a hot puff of air to steady a sudden influx of nerves before she turned towards Alex, “Maybe you should ride in the back with Jace and Zuur, then the Lieutenant can hang off the side?” she suggested, glancing up at B’roka to confirm.

Alex simply gave a shrug and looked over at Zuur, “Go on, buddy. I’ll hop on up after you.”

Zuur gave a heavy snort, the temperature difference between its breath and the outside air enough to cause a small cloud of steam. Without a word the apex predator padded its way over to the truck and with a single powerful bound it leaped into the bed, causing the entire back half of the truck to sag on its suspension. The sound of metal straining under the weight caused Octavia to wince, but nothing immediately broke off of the truck, so she forced the concern down with an anxious gulp.

“Hey, Jace! Help me up!” Alex exclaimed as she wandered to the bed of the truck, holding her mechanical hand up for Jace to take.

“Hold on, ironhand, I gotcha,” Jace grumbled, squeezing past Zuur as he made his way to the side. He reached down and gripped Alex’s hand and with a huff of effort he lifted the short mechanic up, helping her scramble up into the bed with a ring of laughter from both parties.

Watching as the two laughed together, Octavia couldn’t help but give a quiet chuckle of her own, crossing her arms as she watched the squad load up into the truck. She didn’t notice as B’roka stepped up next to her, his hands on his hips as he surveyed his team at the same time.

“You shouldn’t have reservations about giving instructions, Guardian Tiberius,” the Lieutenant remarked, his grating voice rumbling in a quiet baritone, “You clearly have the training. I would not allow you to give orders to my team if I questioned your judgment,” he added, turning his featureless visage to gaze down at her.

Octavia looked up at B’roka in silence for a moment, letting her eyes wander back towards the truck. She gave a small nod in response but said nothing, unable to form words that could convey the turmoil she felt. Instead, she offered a quiet, “Thank you,” with a hidden smile.

Responding silently with a nod, B’roka let his hands drop from his hips and strode over towards the truck where he gripped onto one of the sturdy bars on the roof and planted a foot on the step, lifting himself off the ground. The truck lurched at the added weight, its already strained suspension complaining with a metallic groan as it leaned towards the passenger side to accommodate for the weight. With a sudden increase in his voice, B’roka called out, “Alright, Rednecks! Let’s go hunt some machines.”