Daniel met up with the others in his team and they kept moving. The Pioneers cast a few glances at the Republican in his arms, but they silently agreed that the relevant questions could be left for later. As they kept moving, something terrifying happened.

  Up ahead, dual turrets sprang up from both sides of the tunnel. Turning, they aimed and locked onto the Pioneers in the space of a heartbeat. Daniel hardly got time to react before he received another notification from Nuntius:

  “Interfacing With Facility Defenses.”

  The barrels of the turrets glowed with white hot energy, but they didn’t fire immediately. They seemed to pause, then blink a few times, before retracting. Daniel barely had time to exhale before receiving another notification:

  “Facility Defenses Commandeered. Would you like to set others as allies?”

  A screen popped up in front of Daniel, indicating that Nuntius had gained control of the Aeterna facilities defenses and that it had set himself and all the people around him as non-targets. Nuntius hadn’t done the same for the other Imperial Pioneers still back at the ship, nor the Republican Pioneers, besides the woman in Daniel’s arms. He decided to set all the Imperials as allies, even Korta, while omitting the Republicans. They’d had their chance, and there was a good shot that they were all dead anyway. If they weren’t after him, they would probably try to kill him. Meanwhile, even if he now despised his commander, the man was still commanding good people. He could have excluded the CO, but that would still endanger the soldiers around the man if they stumbled upon the defenses unaware. Plus, Daniel wasn’t quite ready to just kill his own CO in cold blood. There was always the chance that he was just a careless incompetent, rather than a malicious actor. While the former could still be damaging, people didn’t deserve to die for being pompous and idiotic. No matter how frustrating they were.

  With that settled, the Pioneers kept swimming, soon coming upon an open underwater chamber It linked to the cave they’d just come from and another cave off to the Pioneers’ right. In front of them, built into the wall, was a room sized container of chrome metal. The Pioneers swam into this container, finding open air at its top. They emerged from the water into an oxygenated subterranean moonpool. The chamber was built in a large square, its walls made of the same chrome metal as the pool. Strips of glowing gold walls and ceiling provided a generous amount of pleasant lighting. The Pioneers made their way to the edge of the pool, taking their flippers off and walking out onto the warm metal floor. As the Pioneers relished the feeling of being on dry “land” again, Daniel called out: “We’ll take a short break here, then keep moving. There’s probably another way out of here. Even if there isn’t, we should be safe for now behind these defenses.”

  This had been Daniel’s plan all this time. His max detail scan had revealed this otherwise hidden underwater base, and he’d had Nuntius begin interfacing with the base’s computers a while back. He hadn’t known if its defenses were still online or not, but he’d trusted Nuntius to take care of any issues. The AI was hacking into and taking control of the entire place as they sat here, and it should be able to guide them to a safe route out of here. A part of Daniel wanted to do some exploring, but since he wouldn’t get a commission on salvage value it wasn’t worth it. This facility would likely be another Imperial Pioneer’s problem in the future.

  As the men rested, Daniel sent a message to several of the other Imperials, letting them know their location and how to get here. Then, another curveball got sent his way.

  The woman started waking up.

  …

  Second Lieutenant Marko Korta’s Codex glowed a brilliant white as he activated his Integrated Technology. His clone, made from green light, suddenly took on Korta’s likeness exactly. Its jadelike ‘flesh’ shone as it changed, even mimicking him down to his clothes. The clone then split off into multiple others, creating eight of them when all was said and done. The Tech gave him the processing power to control this many, while also empowering them beyond their normal state. Eyes shining green, the nine Kortas turned in concert to examine the squad of Kharnidd who’d closed in on him and his men as they’d retreated.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Korta had initially planned on using these clones to delay his pursuers as he escaped, leaving the others to their fate. Now, his eyes narrowed as he saw that they weren’t as outnumbered as he’d expected. Had that Xenos’s scouting report been wrong? Or had something else changed? Either way, Korta’s plans were altered. He and his clones took aim on their pursuers and opened fire.

  The resulting battle lit up the sea. Korta dominated the enemy Delta class with a barrage of projectiles, refusing to allow the creature to get close while dodging or destroying its long-ranged claw attack. However, the Epsilon Class humans found themselves outmatched and on the backfoot from the very beginning. They would’ve broken quickly, were it not for one particular fellow: “Bring i’ on, aekor! Ay neva me’ a bunch o’ slaggarts as weak as ye’!”

  Reggie’s accent only got stronger as the pressure got heavier. His smaller body was quite maneuverable underwater, and he zipped around enemy attacks with impressive dexterity. He was constantly creating those little healing orbs, keeping the men alive and in the fight. The chaos of the battlefield was his ally, his power the core of the Pioneer defense. The Epsilons were still losing, but they were losing very slowly. Korta eventually killed off the Delta Class and turned to see that only one of the other men had been killed throughout the fighting. He weighed the pros and cons for a few moments before swooping in to bail them out. These men could still be useful. Once Korta joined the fray, the Epsilon class Kharnidd were mopped up promptly.

  The men regrouped and reassessed the situation. Off and further to their right, the three-way battle between the Abductor Leviathans, Kharnidd Thralls, and Republican Pioneers was coming to an end. Unfortunately, the Kharnidd were winning handedly. After losing a few of their number to the Leviathans, the organized Xenos managed to chase the big fish away without much further issue. Furthermore, several of the Republican soldiers had also been snatched up before the Leviathans left. The remaining Kharnidd were crushing the remaining Republicans, and Korta felt no particular compulsion to come to their aid.

  Right at around this time, Korta and the rest of the men received a message from Daniel. It detailed his team’s circumstances and invited all surviving Pioneers to escape to the Aeterna facility. One of the tunnels leading there was unacceptably close to the Kharnidd mosh pit, but an alternate route was rather close to Korta and his men. Daniel had considered using this route initially, since it was closer to the other Imperials, but moving that way would have risked being targeted by two squads of Thralls. He’d chosen to go toward the tunnel near the fighting, anticipating the Thralls splitting up to come after them while also leaning on the possibility of the Leviathans’ intervention. His knowledge of Kharnidd Thrall hunting behavior, based off his reading of the dossier, had allowed Daniel to orchestrate his groups’ escape.

  Now Korta was given a choice. Go down this nearby path and meet up with the others in the Aeterna facility. Or try for the surface and hope that the Republicans distracted the Kharnidd for long enough for the Imperials to escape.

  Before he could even contemplate it for long, his choice was made for him.

  …

  Hars’Nocrot lounged in midair, largely bored with the world and irritated with Its accursed superiors and inferiors alike. It could feel many of Its subordinates below being snuffed out as it sat there, the sensations causing It to twitch in irritation. What were those weaklings doing? Couldn’t they handle a few paltry humans? To make matters worse, It also felt the temporary flaring up of a very powerful weapon. One that was antithetical to Its kind. Hars would have to be wary of that going forward. For now, it had other difficulties to handle.

  As It lounged, the purpose for Its vigil made itself manifest. It suddenly began taking fire from all sides, Psionic projectiles and Toshak lasers streaking up from the water below. This didn’t surprise Hars, as It’d been monitoring the presence of the incoming fighters this entire time. They’d sensed Hars’s presence and had chosen to wait for reinforcements, gathering to try to bring It down. Hars didn’t mind. The more It killed, the more the others would get the message.

  The attacks struck Its shield, a large emerald bubble that It’d manifested with a thought, causing ripples of energy to skip across its surface in a small tumult. The onslaught was impressive, and it would break through eventually. Unluckily for the humans, Hars was in no mood to play with Its food. It wouldn’t give them the time.

  It got up from Its lounging position, standing upright and holding out a single palm. Emerald light began building up within, growing brighter and brighter with each passing second. By the time the enemy realized that something was wrong, it was too late. The light had reached a brightness that rivaled that of the sun, and even as the humans dove underwater or began swimming away, Hars took aim and fired.

  An enormous green laser blasted out across the surface of the ocean, bringing the water to a boil in an instant. Hars swept the laser in a wide area, aiming it down and into the sea where the humans were fleeing in terror. There was a gargantuan explosion of water, the sea wracked with waves in a noise that sounded like the clap of thunder. Some were cooked instantly by the laser. Others were scalded by the superheated water, either killed or badly wounded. A minority got away with minimal injuries, with the operative phrase being ‘got away’. All the humans that had been attacking Hars were now swimming in the opposite direction of the sunken wreck. Another use of its scouting beads confirmed that most of the other humans that had been making their way in Its direction had turned around as well. Word would soon get around that the sunken vessel was guarded by an unstoppable monster.

  Confident It would no longer be interrupted as it worked, Hars flexed Its telekinetic might and sunk down into the sea.

  …

  Korta felt the burst of energy from above, and felt his choice being made for him. He wanted to avoid the creature capable of that kind of firepower at all costs. Clicking his tongue, he turned back toward the tunnel.

  The Aeterna facility would have to do.