Chapter 133: Chapter 49: A New Fate
When the crash ships that carried to riot control droids from the GBI come diving down from the low orbits onto the surface of the orbital ring, Vindy was grabbed by Sadie Allen and took into the building through a side gate. As soldiers dressed in white armor poured out from the main gate to face the riot control droids that are being activated, Sadie brought her into a medium sized empty room and told her to wait here leaving her.
The instruction from Lady Lily was to report to the control room after his return and leave Vindy in a detention room that was used as a storage room, but is now emptied for the purpose of containing Vindy for now.
After reporting Vindy's arrival, Sadie was then told to go with Sir Deva to handle the droids. And the thought of Vindy is out of his mind as the giant man lead him out to his next fight. Instead, the soldiers that had the remaining pseudo-artifacts of Lock Down entered the room and pointed them at Vindy.
'Please don't resist, this is to protect you.' The officer said before pulling the trigger, and Vindy was frozen amidst her complaint.
The flow of time for her stopped, until the moment of her freedom. As she continued her intended movements and complaint, the room was empty with the two pseudo-artifacts of Lock Down set up besides her and Hong Fu now in the room.
'Are you alright?' He asked, his voice sounded a little crackly, 'let's get out of here.'
'Are YOU alright?' Vindy said, 'I was just blasted, but you were knocked out.'
'I did the job, so I am leaving.' Hong Fu said, picking up one of the pseudo-Lock Downs while smashing the other one into a thousand pieces.
'What did you do?' Vindy asked.
'I will tell you after we get out of here.' Hong Fu said before knocking the door down. The building shook as the sound of announcements, alarm and gun shots filled the background, 'Absolute Being are quite occupied right now, so now is the perfect chance.'
Vindy nodded and followed him. The aisles are all empty in the area with the sound of footsteps only coming from the floor above. It appeared some sort of evacuation is underway, perhaps that's why Hong Fu is walking so quickly, his short human legs flailing around at an unnaturally fast frequency.
They made a turn and headed upstairs to the top floor which was converted into a hanger to house tens of shuttles that can be used for evacuation if needed, with the ceiling being turned into a mechanism that can be slid open to allow ships to come in or out.
As they arrived at the floor, a few of the shuttles have already lifted off as a top corner is opened and ships began pouring out of it. There were sounds of fire being exchanged as the ships that are escaping started their engagement with the surrounding GBI forces.
'Let's go!' Vindy pointed towards the nearest ship and began sprinting towards it, but it lifted off and left the two before they could have gotten there. However, the ship behind appeared empty, 'new plan, new ship!'
'Do you want me to knock them down?' Vindy asked, 'I am sure if I unleash my artifact, I can knock them down.'
'I don't question your power, I question the ship's integrity!' Hong Fu replied as the ship's engine began roaring. Someone's already taken that ship! However, there are no other choices left in the top floor, turning up the dials in pseudo-Lock Down, Hong Fu pointed and locked down the engine of the shuttle. The sound was killed off and the shuttle dropped backwards from the lift off position.
'Keep pointing!' Hong Fu handed the pseudo-artifact to Vindy, and it's initial weight took her by surprise. However, Rockies are short and strong, and she managed to hold on to it, 'I will take them out.'
Then, Hong Fu unleashed his full speed as he dashed right into the shuttle through the closing ramp, his speed way faster than his normal movements, and Vindy instantly realized that he is also enhanced just like all of the others. There were a few crashing, hitting and screaming coming in from the insides of the shuttle before the ramp was lowered again and a few of the soldiers were rolled down onto the floor.
'Destroy the pseudo's and come!' Hong Fu's head popped out once more and gestured for Vindy to follow. She nodded and dropped the psuedo-Lock Down onto the floor before sending in a shock wave to snap it in half. She ran considerably faster than Hong Fu, but was still able to get into the shuttle as quickly as she could.
Hong Fu hopped onto the pilot's seat and reset the engine status to account for the error caused by the pseudo-artifact before pushing it forward and lifting off. However, the soldiers that he just knocked out got back onto their feet and began opening fire towards the shuttle while another went ahead and began closing the opening.
If they can't get out, nobody can get out.
'Shit!' Hong Fu cursed, 'we might not make it! The opening is closing!'
'I can make an opening!' Vindy said, 'if I let it all out!'
'Alright, get to the side door of the shuttle, make sure to put on a harness!' Hong Fu ordered as he turned down the nose of the shuttle and pointed it straight at the wall not too far in front of him.
Vindy quickly ran and looped the harness looking thing around her waist. It was way too loose for a Rockie, but she can still get somewhat secure by looping it twice, 'I am ready!'
'Opening...now!' Hong Fu spun the shuttle by ninety degrees and opened the side shuttle door all at the same time as it drifted directly towards it. Reaching out with her glowing fingers and activating the artifact, Vindy screamed and sent out a devastating shock wave towards the wall in front of her.
The ship rattled due to the attack, and cracks suddenly appeared on the wall in front of her as dusts rained down from the ceiling, however, it wasn't enough.
'We need more!' Hong Fu screamed, the pitch in his voice increasing by the word as the shuttle came closer and closer to ramming into the wall and killing the both of them.
We need more! I need more! Vindy looked down at her fingers and reaching out with an even greataer intensity. Letting her glowing fingers shine brighter than they have ever before, all of her past memories before coming to the capital, the fear and anger towards Absolute Being, her hate towards Lady Lily and the situation she has put her in, and the hope for a different and free future with Hong Fu all came together.
The emotions driving her physical reaction, and the intent she has put into the artifact was greater than she has ever done before. The output was unmatched, as the wall in front of her was blown away like a house of cards. Then, as she fell back due to fatigue and the door closes, she heard the cheering of Hong Fu before the ship was pushed and he made a run for it.
However, Vindy wasn't there for the demonstration of Hong Fu's piloting skills as she fainted in her double looped harness by the shuttle's side door.
'Hayyye....hayyyyyylle....hey....hey! Hey! Are you up?' As the distorted and muffled voices became clearer and clearer, Vindy was finally awaken by the continuous shaking by Hong Fu. As she opened her eyes at last, Hong Fu let's out a smile and sat back onto the chair with a smile finally.
'Where are we?' Vindy asked, looking around the shuttle and out into the dark void of space.
'We are currently making our way out of the Olympus System.' VIndy said, 'are you well?'
'I am...' Vindy tried to move around, but her entire body is aching, 'pain in my body, what is this?'
'This is a natural response after using artifact hard.' Hong Fu explained, 'it is fine, we have plenty of time. Let's talk.'
'Talk?' Still a big disoriented after waking up, Vindy struggled to pick up what Hong Fu is implying.
'About our future, and what Absolute Being did.' Hong Fu said, and Vindy's mind immediately became clear after hearing this as she sat up straight with her short legs dangling off the ledge of the seat.
'...So in the end, I had to guide Zero to accelerate the activation of the remaining few artifacts while keeping Elmyra alive, however, it wasn't sure how many of the artifacts are activated early, or when they will be activated. All we know is that the fate of all of us has changed by his actions.'
'So what now?' Vindy asked.
'From the look of things, it looked like Absolute Being is going to lay low for a little while after this, and they won't bother coming after us just yet.' Hong Fu explained, 'that won't always be the case, however. They will come after us after they have recovered.'
'So let's run, go to one of your safe houses.' Vindy said.
'Yes, and I also don't think human space is safe for us any more. Infinity's reach adding on top of Absolute Being is just way too much for anyone to handle.' Hong Fu said, shaking his head, 'Aquarian space is basically the same with human space, with a little less human.'
'What about Rockies space? You said you had a few safe houses there.' Vindy said, 'why not go there?'
'Well...' Hong Fu said with a shrug, 'the politics there isn't exactly...welcoming.'
'It's really not that bad.' Vindy insisted, 'lay low, and we can be relatively free.'
'Guess we will be going there then, the least of the three evils.' Hong Fu said, shrugging his head, 'just relax for a while, I have found a hidden acceleration gate through Probable and we can navigate towards the nearest Rockies system as soon as we can.
Vindy nodded, her mind lingered on the prospect of returning home after travelling the galaxy as a musician for so long. From now on, it would be a new fate for the two of them, and for some reason, she knew that fate won't treat them with much kindness, especially after what Zero tried to pull. Whatever comes her way, she will just have to face it head on.
All she wanted is to be free in this galaxy, but perhaps that freedom will have to wait until all of this is over.
When all of the bearers have returned to the cruiser ship that they came with, Cellica had to bring them the bad news about the Lock Down of the entire region, and how despite her efforts, she cannot actually get them a special pass to leave the system. There was an emergency summon in response to their siege on the orbital ring, meaning Cellica will be out of commission for a long while too.
As the bearers sat in a circle in the living quarters of the cruiser, with Ol, Torelamri, Rydel, Valerie solemnly drinking a drink. Valerie had kept Elmyra in lock down ever since her retrieval, but the constant and sustained usage of her artifact has taken a visible toll on her body. However, Ol gathered everyone around here to announce something.
'Valerie, I have verified with the Scroll, and Torelamri has personally fetched a cryopreservation tube. We can keep Elmyra in there for now, and then have someone look at her after we went back to base.' Ol said, as Torelamri pointed to an unpacked box in the corner of the room.
'You tired, rest.' Torelamri then pointed towards Valerie, who put up a smile in response.
'It's okay.' Rydel puts a hand on her shoulder as all of them rose from their seat and prepared to move her as quickly as possible, then as Valerie finally released her grasp on Elmyra, Rydel immediately moved her motinoless body across into the cryo-tube while Torelamri quickly hopped on to set the controls. The life signals were weak and unstable according to the tube's readings before she was frozen, and it will most likely remain that way until they get back and have her treated by the medical droids back in the base.
Or perhaps they will need to travel to some medical researchers or professionals back at the Galactic IST, but whatever it is they will do, they just can't risk doing it here in the capital, drawing any more attention to her.
Despite almost all of the Absolute Being's presence withdrawing from the system, a majority of Infinity was still unaffected by this shift, apart from losing a manufacturing plant on the second orbital ring in the process. Knowing the risks, all of the bearers decided to just stay on the cruiser and wait until the lock down was over.
Time flew by with few actions and a few days had past as the investigations continued on the surface. Valerie and Rydel has even set up a dining table in their room next to a window that looked directly onward towards the planet and it's clusters of megastructures and orbital infrastructures.
It was a dinner date for them, as a compensation of the dinner that they never had during their day long bender at the food and cuisine district. Rydel has specially went around the supply shops for the best ingredients he could find, freshly harvested from the first orbital ring's farming plants. Then, using the cruiser's ship's limited cooking facilities, he has made the best meal he could have.
A grilled soy steak and potato wedges combo.
It had always worked for the ladies, and it turned out to be true again tonight.
'Thing will never be the same from now on.' Valerie suddenly said as they were making their way through the food, 'Absolute Being has made themselves known at least to the GBI, and we are no longer hidden.'
'Perhaps it's about time.' Rydel said, 'did you feel something weird when we were still on the orbital ring? As if something subtle about us has changed?'
'Are you sure it wasn't just the stress of combat?'
'Maybe, but it felt different...' Rydel said, looking out to the capital planet of the galaxy, 'it felt like our fate has been altered, and something big is coming.'
'The final threat?' Valerie's mind immediately turned to what Ol and Cellica has foreseen way back when, but Rydel shook his head.
'It doesn't feel like what Cellica's talking about' Rydel said, 'I don't know what it is, but it isn't going to be good. Plus I have two artifacts, so perhaps that's why I am feeling it extra strong.'
'Maybe.'
'Or you are just too much of an insensitive brute, how else can you take down Sir Deva so easily?'
'...Shut up.'
Cellica sneezed in the middle of a holographic meeting, but thankfully she has muted her mic immediately before the disaster stroke and prevented everyone's unwanted attention onto her.
'So, regarding this Absolute Being threat that officer Cellica Uleric has warned us about, adding on the verbal and video evidence from the riot control team, the committee has agreed to place Absolute Being onto priority level 2.' The leader of this meeting said, 'please continue to monitor their activity, Cellica, and your authorization level will be increased from level 3 to level 2.'
'Yes, Sir.' Cellica said with a quick salute, 'that will be appreciated.'
'You are dismissed.' The leader said before disconnecting her from the meeting, 'now, regarding the priority level 0 matter in the Rocky systems...'
Letting out a long sigh of relief, Cellica leaned back into her chair before pulling out a text with Ol. With Absolute Being being placed onto priority level 2, she will have much more power and freedom to investigate and collect evidence of their activities in the settled regions. She can do nothing about their activity in the wild regions, but if any connections between them and Infinity can be clearly found, then they will be a lot closer to uprooting this organization.
Nothing of value was found from the wreckage apart, as the pseudo-Mass Projector has destroyed much of the manufacturing building. And Infinity has come out to condemn the 'terrorist organization' that hijacked their properties and destroyed it, and they 'apologize' for any inconvenience caused.
It will be a long battle ahead of her in the office, but Absolute Being is growing more and more impatient, now showing their cards in the settled region. Cellica can see that they will do more and more in the far future, and she has got work to do to prepare for their next steps.
Her doors was knocked on before a young Aquarian male showed his head by the door.
'Sir, the task force is assembled and ready for your briefing.' He said, giving her an Aquarian salute. She returned the gesture and stood up from her chair.
From now on, a new fate awaits them all, and all they can do is to face it head on!
(End)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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