Chapter 86: Chapter 2: The Trace
'Sir Deva, I have summoned you here today for one matter only. There has been a theft in the developing acceleration gate.'
Sir Deva certainly wasn't expecting him to be summoned today, as he had just returned from his fruitless wonder in the wild regions. The master was radio silent for a few days and only sent him a notification of a call a few minutes ago.
'Master, what has happened?'
'The first generation prototype of Lock Down that Lady Lily had developed prior in cooperation with the Black Wolf was stolen away from the acceleration gate one jump away from Wolfana.' Master went straight to the point, 'The Grey Wolf was not happy, and he had no options to but turn to us for help.'
'I assume he has tried other routes?'
'You assumed correctly.' Master nodded with a knowing grin, 'still not one to check in to the news?'
'My apologies.' Sir Deva responded coldly, though not a hint of apologetic tone was in his response.
'None needed. There are more ways to gather information, and you, being one of the best trackers we have here, is the best person to do the job. I have sent you the details, when you are ready, please go track down this thief and get the prototype back.'
'What about the thief?'
'You may do as you please.' Master said firmly and ended the conversation.
When Sir Deva first hopped on his spaceship and flew away from the base of Absolute Being (not the same planet as Absolute Academy), he merely thought that this is a personal mission given directly by Master. However, the moment he opened the wider communications channel, he was flooded by the news of the highest ever bounty on whoever's gonna return the stolen equipment and bring the thief back. Perhaps that's what Master meant by do as he pleases.
As the announcer enthusiastically repeated the sum of credits again and again, trying to elicit some measure of excitement out of her audiences, Sir Deva can feel a flame swelling from within him. He slammed shut the communications and focused on his navigation. He had once envisioned being a carefree bounty hunter, living with a code and doing things as they please, yet reality is the complete opposite. The only code most bounty hunters and mercenaries follow is the code of getting more money by any means. Then they simply waste away all those credits in a weekend on drugs, women and guns, all to repeat the cycle once again.
There is no purpose in that life. And Sir Deva was thankful to find Absolute Being at the time he did.
As his ship flew towards Wolfana, he took the time and dived into the details of the theft. However, like Zel, Sir Deva struggled to find much with value. Knowing that, he simply put the data away and rested his mind and body. There is no telling what's going to happen in the wild regions, so he might as well rest up and prepare to act when needed.
Instead of having a convenient artifact that allowed Zel to slip through any space, Sir Deva simply used his giant stature to push through the cues. At times some rowdy mercenaries almost pulled a gun on him, but he simply snapped his humerus with a single swing and sent him flying backwards before leaving a visible dent in the walls behind him. Seeing the display of strength and dominance was more than enough to clear a path and Sir Deva made it thorugh the area without a sweat.
Passing by the data centre, he simply quickly scanned a copy of all of the relevant files and sent it back towards the Absolute Academy, where people more adept at digging through data will take over from here and only alert him if anything suspicious surfaces. Wasting no time, he then marched towards the main area where the energy core is located at. The station is absolutely massive and the empty hall ways leaves a haunting impression with its perfectly painted walls and cleanliness, but thankfully the horizontal conveyer belts for travel took him exactly where he wanted in the quickest time possible.
As he stepped off the belt, it felt like the entire station shakes with every giant step he took, and yet his ear caught wind of another's voice from within the room. Having one hand ready on his blaster and the other switching on the base mode of his shield generator, Sir Deva lightened his footsteps and approached the room. As he turned and looked through, of course nobody was there.
He scanned the environment carefully, glancing quickly over at all of the corners of the empty room, his heightened eye sight and hearing from the enhancements wasn't enough to pick up any signs of living, and yet he knew deep down that something was up. Whatever the thing is, Sir Deva felt uneasy that some things on this measly space station was enough to startle him. Perhaps it's time to get right to work.
He glanced over to the side for one last time, and then reset the AI's projections before making his own observations. The very first prototype of Lock Down was one of the first in the lines of pseudo-artifact that the brilliant Lady lily got her hands on, and her proudest. She had proposed how the most advanced and precise equipment would be required to at least replicate the baseline powers of such artifacts, and this half assed attempt simple proved it. It isn't all for naught, however, as all of the perceived drawbacks of this creation became insignificant under the right functional settings.
All of the artifacts are fully miniaturized and capable of being possessed and used by a single intelligent being. The physical demands of artifact usage focuses mostly on concentration, precision and skill, rather than raw physical strength. In comparison, most of the first generation pseudo-artifacts that Lady Lily attended to create are immensely awkward gigantic machinations. Most broke down tens of cycles of usage into its life span, except for Lock Down. The artifact previously owned by the Black Wolf excels at being in a state of constant and stability, so she quickly thought up a quick use for it. Sir Deva can still remember the day when she made the breakthrough and wrapped her arms around his giant body like a kid swinging on a tree branch. There was a certain smile on her face that Sir Deva had rarely seen since.
She enjoyed creation as a hobby, driven by curiosity and fun. But not anymore.
This very prototype was able to condense energy, or really high density matter at a constant state within a small confined region of space and it proved extremely useful for development of next generation acceleration gate lasers. The core was installed into the central area of the room, surrounded by thick layers of magnetic materials and other electronics. There is no signs of break in from any angle, and it appeared that the core was plucked straight from its source.
Sir Deva is fairly certain that one of the bearers of artifact had such a power, but the timelines do not match up, and the motivations certainly didn't line up either.
He felt the glare and sense of unease grew from behind him and spun around rapidly, his boots screeches against the floor and the pistol in hand pointed right at Zel, except Zel is still hidden within the pocket domain, and he didn't see a single soul.
Perhaps he was tired. He just need to get this over and done with.
Taking his time to use his heightened intellect and particularly his analytical skills, Sir Deva began dissecting all of the possible ways that the energy core could have gone missing. The secure mechanism not only detects the presence of the energy core, but also closely tracks the amount of radiation coming out of the energy core, which was pre-set by Lady Lily. If the radiation level veers outside the noted range, an alarm would be triggered.
There is no way anyone could have done the job after the installation is complete. Both Sir Deva and Zel came to the same conclusion not long after.
Compiling all of his thoughts in a neat package, he also sent the files back to the Absolute Academy, and perhaps someone smarter than him can have a crack at the case. One does not need to know the mechanism of the theft to be able to track the core down. The energy core is highly volatile, extremely immobile and very dangerous, so it's not exactly something anybody can just sneak out in a pocket.
The thief will need a big ship capable of handling the giant equipment, and also some method of handing it off.
'The traffic flow lock downs of the region began once the theft was noted?' Sir Deva asked, and he got an affirmative.
'Do you have ship travel records on this station, both in and out?'
'Yes, they are located within the data center.'
Sir Deva nodded, and headed back towards the data center. Zel closely followed him, though unaware of the latest updates.
With all of the necessary data in hand, he began sifting through it. Zel stood right behind him and looked over his shoulders.
With a simple filter, he finalized a list of all the possible ships that would be able to carry the device away, and extended the range of dates to just before the installation of the energy core took place. The list is big to track down, but not impossible to work with. In a matter of hours, the analysis coming back from Absolute Academy's data research department showed him a map of where the ships have gone in all the credible trackers. Among those few ships, one arrived days before the installation, and did not depart the region until recently. It took a few detours on a few dummy planets with no significance, and stopped over at an neutral space station in between the regions of the Black Pegasus and the White Crow and Sea Serpents, two factions of Aquarian origin and none friendly with the Grey Wolf.
The tension between the Grey Wolf and the White Crows is already well known at this point and stemmed back to the early days of the great expansion when the Grey Wolf refused to offer help to the Aquarian refugees. The Sea Serpents, however, are a region infested with Aquarian Crime Lords seeking cheap labor and new resources. The space station labelled as the Spotlight was said to be an area of illegal trading of goods, services and slavery.
With that, Sir Deva powered his ship up and left for the space station. There is very little information known on the Spotlight by those residing within Absolute Academy with the standard internet access, so Sir Deva will have to do this one without back up by himself. The journey will take a few days, and fortunately he won't be alone.
Zel is still with him. Locking his pocket domain onto the real world is something he has been doing for a while, and he is doing the exact same thing with the hitchhiking on Sir Deva's ship. Occasionally he will still a ration or two by warping a few packets from the bottom of the shelves, but he do indeed behaves himself most of the time. He isn't sure whether Sir Deva is completely oblivious to his existence just by the constant tension displayed on his face, and the artifact seemed offended when Zel questioned its abilities.
He could very easily take out Sir Deva at any moment, and there is nobody in the dead of space that can back him up. However, upon further examination of the ship and seeing all the various cameras and recorders, any action that's more vigorous than slipping out a packet of food would be caught on by the sensors. Zel isn't willing to risk it all, as Sir Deva's ship would be registered and known to all the associates of Absolute Being, and he isn't sure what the ship will do if he took out Sir Deva by dumbing him into the vacuum of space or warp away his head. Maybe the ship will self destruct, leaving him stranded in the middle of nowhere? Maybe all of the recordings will be sent back to Absolute Being, and they would know of Zel existence in the wild regions, making any subsequent actions more difficult.
'Exercise caution, even if you think you can take advantage of your power and the situation, don't act rashly.' Cellica did warn him this before he sets out, and that was before anybody knew he would bump into Sir Deva. Now that another artifact user is involved, the level of risk just skyrocketed.
'It appears that I would just have to be a parasite for a few days. Get to know Sir Deva a little bit.' Zel shrugged and lied on the 'ground', or really it's just an artificial floor in his pocket domain. Maybe he need to decorate the place a little bit, seeing how he will be staying in this most of the time.
Every morning, Sir Deva wakes up at the ship's standard time of 6:30 in the morning. From the moment he opened his eyes, he is fully alert and aware. He gets the same breakfast three days in a row, and eats the same lunch and dinner.
For the daily activities in between the meals and sleep, he will perform a full exercise routine, body maintenance routine paying special attention to his facial and chest hair, read for a few hours of various materials, meditate, and even dared to practice his artifact, mass projector inside his ship for a little while.
As three tiny black spheres orbit around each other right in front of Sir Deva's face as if he is juggling them, Zel can feel the power swelling from within this man. The mass projector was possibly one of the most power artifacts seen so far, and yet he could not only channel the incredibly outputs that pulled out a ship from it's fast travelling state, but also control it with such delicacy and care that he could play with it inside his bedroom.
The equivalent display of control for Zel would be to be able to warp grains of rice individually into the pocket domain, and also being able to take in an entire building. Such range of power is still impossible for Zel at this moment, and he doubt it would ever be at it's current state.
Sir Deva moves way faster than an average human, and his strength is also way above the markers for an elite athlete, some qualities even directly comparable to Zel's prosthetic arm's maximum output. And he made sure those prosthetic arms are capable of much more than what a human limb can achieve.
Now, Zel is thankful that he didn't act when he did. If he revealed himself, Sir Deva can probably take him down in an instant. He can probably create a orb of mass from right within his body and explode or implode him from the inside before Zel can perform the killing blow.
And at the end of the day, Sir Deva sat back on his chair and locks his eyes in a picture pinned to the wall. It's a rather old-times printed picture of the best memories of his, when he and Lady Lily finally obtained their artifacts. Within the picture, Lady Lily was wearing a military uniform with a red shirt underneath. She was younger and equally as stunning back then, her black hair tied to one side and her arms wrapped around Sir Deva's body.
He remembered the feeling of her body pressed tightly against his, and he wanted that feeling back. Lady Lily had moved on from those days, but he was left behind.
Sir Deva stares at the picture for a long while, sighed and turned away for another sets of fifty single arm push ups with dialed up artificial gravity.
'This isn't even fair...All of them are enhanced in some way shape or form.....'
And with that thought in mind, the general strategy for the next steps would be to avoid, evade and keep his distance. The Pocket might not be the best artifact for it's raw damage output, but it's arguably the best at running away. Suits a thief.
As the ship approaches Spotlight, both Sir Deva and Zel admitted that they really have to refine their expectations when it comes to the developments and technology in the wild regions. When you spend as much as time as they are in run down colonies, bare-bone stations and occasionally partially terraformed planets like the Absolute Academy, seeing a golden colored space station floating in the Lagrange points in between three major systems complete with sparkling lights and dashes of light beams sweeps in all direction, acting like a lighthouse in the endless ocean that is space.
Floating beacons form direct pathways leading Sir Deva to the main flow of traffic, where to his surprise, is already quite busy. Ships of obviously Aquarian origin formed the majority of the traffic, and yet he can see a few human-built and Rockies-style ships squeezing in the gaps between the giant Aquarian bioships.
Order was maintained easily, as a floating drone accompanied Sir Deva's ship, and a hailing is called and he patched it through.
'Your ship is unregistered. Are you here for the big event?' The drone relayed the automated message, and Sir Deva raised his eyebrows slightly. He was not expecting any big event, but that explains the surge in traffic. Maybe some sort of an auction is happening on the station, which could also relate to the theft, as an advanced energy core of that quality would be a simple sell for anybody which can use in a variety of ways, some ways more devastating than others.
'I am here for the big event.'
'For the price of three thousand equivalent BP credits, you may join the VIP queue. Do you accept this offer?'
Sir Deva's eyebrows raised once more. Three thousand equivalent Black Pegasus (BP) credits converts roughly to about two thousand Wolf credits, which Sir Deva could easily afford. However, despite the funding master generously offered for his missions, Sir Deva is still spendthrift whenever he can. This is an exception.
'You will pay the price if this is a scam.' Sir Deva threatened the droid as he transferred the credits. And meanwhile Zel is simply thankful to be on the same ship as the rich guy. Perhaps there is a benefit to being a part of a rich weird evil organization.
'Threats are useless on this station. Please exercise control, or you will be put down by force.' The droid warned, as Sir Deva is clearly not the only aggressive customer the droid has served, 'Now, please follow me to join the VIP queue.'
Sir Deva steered the ship and followed the droid. He moved ahead a total of forty meters, and is now just the fiftieth rather than the fifty sixth in the parking areas waiting. Knowing any protest isn't likely going to make the entire process more bearable, he kept his mouth shut.
Fortunately, the VIP queue do indeed move faster than the regular queue, and soon Sir Deva's ship was magnetically locked in place, and he took the shuttle towards the main building. Before he left the ship, he performed a wide area search for the ship that the thief took, and confirmed its positions. Now, all the pieces have been set, and it's for him to find out where on the station the energy core is.
The only issue being, he isn't the only looking for it.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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