3.1 Literary Misadventure - motherlode

<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="position: fixed; z-index: 1499; width: 0px; height: 0px;"><div data-reactroot="" class="resolved" style="all: initial;"></div></div>We trudge through the muck.

Thank fuck we all invested in air managers for this mission because I guarantee you that this place stinks like Satan's armpit. We're about six kilometers beneath the surface and that causes a not inconsiderable difference in atmospheric qualities in English that means that there's so much oxygen here that just breathing the oxygen is going to fuck you up fairly fast. it'll take about an hour or so before the toxicity gets to the point where you start puking your guts up. That's just the oxygen though there's more and nastier things in this air than just that particularly given the nature of the city up top.

The troopers are silent, well to me at least, I don't know if they've still got the radio going on an encrypted channel.

I don't particularly care.

Because?

I mean?

How are we going to get out of this bullshit?

Why were we set upon by an entire clan of Coruscani Ogres?

This stinks like force bullshit. Serious force bullshit.

I come up to a junction between two paths and stop at the corner.

"Doing a spot check. Please Hold." I hear the others finger their weapons, it isn't because of me, it's because of what I might find. Besides, They know I have a thermal detonator AKA 'happy Fun Grenade', it isn't armed but they don't need to know thatparticular bit of information. Fear will keep them in line, Fear of my dying gasp.

I sink into a mystic trance quickly, it's not an ability used by the tamrealics fairly often because experienced mages have dedicated spells for detection of known quantities and adventurers have to be constantly on the lookout for things which want to eat their faces. I don't have a dedicated spell for force detection simply because of the universal nature of the force and I have guards to ameliorate the whole 'face eaten' issue.

I can feel the energy of the universe and my place in it as I focus.

I don't have a place in it, the energy of the universe simply flows through my body as if I were a rock, a slice of bread or if I'm particularly generous, an overcooked meatloaf.

This is less of a thing for my companions, each of them traps, impedes, moves or otherwise interacts with the universal background energy, The Force.

As to weather I can tell if the force is fucking with us... Well that's a different matter. Imagine looking at a giants toenail and discerning the subtleties of it's opinion on the Polish economy.

Yeah...

No luck there.

Fortunately I don't see the signs of anything else particularly force significant around either.

I open my eyes and flex my hands in a practiced motion. Matrix magic doesn't need words and doesn't have a failure chance like on the fly magic but it does light you up like a christmas tree, if not as badly.

The spell fires and I have three seconds to observe our surroundings.

"All clear." I say as I quietly move around the corner.

"Why did you start glowing?" Forty Five asks.

"That, well that's using my own magic. Unless you're really good at it there always some waste energy and that tends to come out as light and sound."

"It makes you a great target." The trooper says casually.

"Anytime." I quip. "There's a lot of ways to magic and each has it's ups and downs. For most of them you just end up glowing in the dark which may or may not be a very, very bad idea." I explain compulsively.

The eight of us travel down the pathway between ancient megastructures at a quick and quiet pace. the mush beneath our feet lets out soft squelches with our movement but hopefully we should be able to make it a good distance without running into any trouble.

"Halt" Terra Commands and i come to a quick stop with the rest of the team. "I think we're being followed."

I turn slowly, the path is pitch black behind us, it's pitch black everywhere.

I focus and cast a single pulse of mystic power. Not much power, my reserves aren't deep enough that I can just spam things like this. Magic suffuses my vision for a full second before dying.

"I haven't got anything living or mechanical in one hundred meters." I say carefully.

Terra audibly scowls.

"Fuckit, Thirty nine your opinion?" I command.

"He's just a stormtrooper Alex." Terra says tiredly.

"True. Thirty nine, good news! You're force sensitive enough to breeze through the entrance exams to become an imperial inquisitor. Bad News! Being an Imperial Inquisitor is not a fun job and actually has worse future prospects than being the point man on a boarding party. More good news, Outside of Chanim who's staying out of sight you are the most force sensitive of the group. I cannot tell whether or not it's worth placing a booby trap if something is following us. Trust your gut and tell me how many grenades we should use?"

"Alex, stop filling their heads with this mystic bullshit. The force isn't real, this is all... all just a bad day." Terra says tiredly.

I suppose we have been going for a few hours already. I've been using my potions to cheat more than a little bit, they aren't all that powerful but more than enough to banish tiredness into the far depths of darkness.

"Terra, we've been going for about three hours now and I can respect that you're tired, but seriously dude your girlfriend is an Inquisitor. A professional force sensitive with a muthafuckin laser sword and everything. In case you haven't noticed magic is real, empirically provable and easily measurable. I can tell you right now I have personal experience that the Force Exists, it is not bullshit mysticism from old guys in fake beards but something understandable and usable. Right now we need every advantage we can get to stay alive. Now what I'm going to do is to drop an area rejuvenation spell to give us all a pick me up. Thirty nine is going to decide whether his gut believes it's a good idea to leave traps and we're going to find somewhere safe and secure with breathable air where we can figure out what happens next. Okey?"

"No It Is Not Okey! I am the officer her and I will be the one making the orders!"

"Yeah? And!?"

"What do you mean AND?" He hollers into the radio.

"And. And what orders, In case you haven't noticed we aren't just in over our heads, we are redefining what in too deep means on a galactic fucking level! How can you know what orders to give if you don't understand the situation!? How can you understand the consequences of your actions if you're completely fucking ignorant of the basic fucking rules of fucking physics!? Because you, Second Lieutenant are Lost As Fucking Shit and I am barely any better."

"So what do we do?" he asks between gritted teeth.

"We... Ugh.. I use my magic to keep us alert and safe, the force sensitives trust their gut because that's the best decision making technique we have available to us right now and the rest of you murder the fuck out of anything which even looks at us funny."

"That's not much of a plan Alex." He grits out.

"Not much of a plan is better than no plan at all. More importantly, you all know that you should be trying to arrest me, that you should be trying to bring me in for questioning as per regulations. But some of you are wondering about what happens next aren't you?"

"They are not." Terra states with finality.

"You are not, because you either haven't thought about it too hard or you are so far in denial you're halfway to Luxor. They, contrary to popular opinion, are seperate and distinct individuals."

He glares at me through his helmet I can see his steely eyes saturated with a mix of panic, fear and adrenaline.

"Where's this safe place?" He asks.

"About five Ks thataway with a two hundred meter climb."

"Alright. We'll talk about this later."

"It's a narrow decision space mate, we don't exactly have much choice about that." He glares at me. "Alright Healing time, stay close folks."

I place my hands together and force my mind into it's happy place as I chant a happy silly song under my breath. Intellectually healing magic shouldn't need this kind of self deception. It does, but it shouldn't perhaps one day i'll figure out precisely the mechanism behind the requirement for an emotional aspect but today is not that day. Magic flows through me as I focus in the feeling of the music, letting the happiness on joy of it permeate the world around me.

The spell is not perfect even as it draws me back to my childhood.

Different cultural mores stop it taking as hold nearly as well on my allies as on myself but it does buoy spirits, drive fatiuge back and paper over most of the aches and pains that we've accumulated in the hours of treking to the point where we're all fresh again. Not fresh enough, that takes more power and skill than I have but it's enough.

"Alright." Terra says stepping way from the spell vortex. "Thirty nine."

"Yessir." The trooper replies.

"Do we mine the passage?" Terra asks.

"I... Uh... Sir. It's probably a good idea sir and uh.. I've heard that some of the things down here crawl along the roof." The young man stutters out.

"Alex." Terra states simply, reaching out with a grenade and a decoy from his banlodier.

Wordlessly i take the equipment, slot them together and with a small pulse of mystic energy stick it to the roof. It will periodically produce enticing noises until something finds it. I pull out one of my own stink grenades and attach it to an aural decoy in the middle of the corridor, to get any ground bound beasties.

"Right, we're good here. Destination's thataway." I say gesturing in the appropriate direction.

"Noted, Thirty nine take point and keep your eyes out."

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It's a mere fifteen minutes later when we hear the faint report of a ceiling mounted flashbang go off. I can't help but smile to myself as the eight of us hustle through the depths of the undercity.

A The air's still breathable an hour later as we near our destination, even with the amount we've climbed fro our initial position. It isn't a major concern as I direct us along the trail of magical breadcrumbs that Mechanisms left.

"The fuck is this?" Thirty nine mutters as he rounds a corner in what once used to be an alleyway in ages long past.

The rest of us follow behind him.

"I have no idea trooper. Alex." Terra commands, no more words really necessary.

It's a simple door set into the side a wall, metal and covered in the better part of a millennia of detritus and other random shit. On the face of the door jutting out of the much is a glowing white rune, a complex pattern of eldritch lines shedding dim light out into the passageway.

"It's our destination, that's a light rune. Just a simple proximity spell which releases a small burst of light. Utterly harmless." I say as I walk up to the door and the rune reacts to my presence.

In a fraction of a second the rune collapses from the outside in, a small blob of light forming in the centre, dissipating ten seconds later.

"Eyup, harmless."

"Where is Chanim anyway?" Trooper fifty asks, the scout looking around carefully.

"Hiding, you won't be able to find her. Hell I wouldn't be able to find her without magic. She's probably watching us through a few meters of solid cover and still listening over the radio." I say tapping the side of my helmet.

"I don't like it." He mutters.

"You don't have to like it." Terra says examining the door. "That lock is beyond broken. How are we going to get in?"

"Well first we need to clear this muck, then I'm probably going to have crowbar it open." I say as I examine the edges of the ancient structure.

"I would have thought you'd just magic it open." Terra states sarcastically.

"In my defence, it's a magic crowbar."

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Six of us lean on the Daedric Crowbar that I've managed to work into the gap of the sliding door and we shove it open with a bit of muscle while the other two stand guard. It's actually pretty lonely down this deep, there isn't nearly enough food coming down from the other levels to support a great variety of life so the critters are few and far between.

What critters there are tend to be of the nastier sort, we've had to stop work once or twice waiting for a beastie to pass us by.

Fortunately Trooper forty five brought enough rockets for everyone so we weren't actually in that much danger. It still takes far far too long to get something as simple as a small door open.

"Right, that's enough." I call out and the others ease up on the crowbar. I let the bound daedra return to it's shithole home plane and move up to the door.

I'm able to get my hand through the gap in the sliding door and actually make contact with the runners it's meant to travel along.

I mutter to myself as I shape a spell, Disintegration, it's a spell which can be targeted at all kinds of things. Things like rust, organic detritus and similar kinds of gunk which could jam a door. After a few seconds I remove my hand from the runner and push the door fully open.

It doesn't slide smoothly but it does slide so I'll call that a win.

"Alright. We're open." I say stepping back.

Thirty nine is the first through his heavy stunner raised to his shoulder ready to make anything nasty regret it was born.

The others tromp through close on his heels with me, finally sliding through the door and going to close it with a hand.

A small paw holds the door open and Chanim slips inside.

I slide the door closed and lock it with a spell.

The troopers aren't silent as they sweep the building, say what you will about stormtroopers but these guys are pretty good at close urban combat. I watch the six troopers slide between doors, and throw open cupboards in what appears to be an ancient apartment.

Two teams call the all clear as they finish ransacking what little is left after being neglected for millennia.

Terra flicks a switch on the wall absentmindedly and the single fluorescent bulb in the middle of the entry hall immediately lights a bright white.

Colour seeps into our surroundings as my night vision magic fades, the apartment is almost spotless, the structure is clearly late old republic style, popular somewhere about three thousand years ago.

"That's strange, this strata is at youngest five thousand years old... that means that..." I mutter.

"Hey we've got something over here!" Trooper forty six calls from deeper within the apartment cutting off our mutterings.

I share a look with Terra and as one we pull our pistols and approach the location slowly, the other troopers following us closely and Chanim hiding somewhere.

We reach Forty Six and fifty, fifty examining a distinctly discoloured panel on the wall while forty six stands guard with her flamer at the ready.

"We've found this panel sir, it looks fishy, Fifty has a dozen credits on it being a hidden door, I reckon it's a secret armoury." She says gesturing with her flamethrower.

"Hmmm. Well there's only one thing for it. Alex, take care of the problem." He orders stepping back and letting me get to work.

"Well, let's see what we've got here. Looks like there's no mechanism for us to open the door, there's always the explosive option but." I press my hand to the unlocked door.

"Offen" I command, my unlock amulet burning through what charge it managed to accumulate over the last three hours of fucking about.

The door glows purple for a moment.

I go to push it open and it remains as steadfastly locked as it was before.

"Well, did your vaunted magic fail you?" Terra snarks.

"A: Fuck you mate, B: Yes, A little Bit. But I'm not done yet, this might take a while."

I Press my hand against the door which I know and understand is both closed and locked. but at the same tiem it isn't it has another natural state one locked, one unlocked the are as close as two sides of a sheet of paper yet just as likely to never meet. The lock is solid and well made out of the finest materials but inside there is that single vital component which governs whether this door is locked and unlocked. That components is a....

Is a...

Digital output. it controls the mechanical maglock on the door.

It is inactive.

Knowledge flows into my mind as i fool myself and the world that I actually know it and it leaves just as quickly. The solenoid, still active after millennia de-energises and the ragnarok proofed mechanism of the door activates automatically, swinging the heavy metal plate up and against the roof.

*klonk*

I'm knocked on my arse as it bounces off my helmet.

"About time Alex."

"How long was I out?"

"Almost ten minutes."

"Dang, It shouldn't have taken that long." I say and drag myself up off the floor.

I step back as thirty nine and fifty charge through into the closet shaped space, there's another door on the far side, an airlock.

The troopers step in, the lock snaps closed, there's a clunk as the inner door opens.

"Damn... LT, you should get in here. Also Fifty owes me a dozen creds."

The other troopers file into the room from where they'd been lurking in the corridor. I step into the airlock with Terra, he isn't on edge anymore, whether it's because he's ready come to terms with whatever decision he's feeling like making or because the anticipation of discovery is distracting him.

The air is sucked out from around us and replaced with fresh stuff, it's full atmospheric replacement as well, flushing the atmosphere with a third gas before the exposing us to the internal atmosphere.

The door slides open with a hiss and a thud.

I look at the architecture of what lies inside and smile like a loon. The dark colours, the sharp angles and the deep crimson lighting.

"Terra mate, you know how I said that i'd get you something from my inventory if we didn't find any shinies?"

"Yes Alex."

"Looks like that won't be necessary."

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