Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I would suggest holding onto something," Blackstone replied with a nod as his right hand twitched out a command through his suit's virtual interface, "But our anti-inertial effects are integrated into the engine systems, so that won't be necessary. We're heading to a base where we can refuel, so we're going to dump our mana batteries into the engines to get there faster."

The ship landed half an hour later. An icy expanse shimmered, becoming insubstantial as the ship sank directly through it. A faint chill spread through the Tyrgani as the ship descended into the ice and below, landing in a hangar miles long with eight Devastator-class Cruisers.

It was an awe-inspiring sight; half the size of an Angelship with at least as much firepower, the Devastators had long been a well-known name in the air forces of the various factions, but they really made their name in 2028 when a pair of them crushed an entire Cabal fleet in a horrendously lopsided encounter known most commonly as the Sevastopol Curbstomp.

They were transported down the hangar to the facility proper in a monorail; the facility was built around a series of infinite-loop-based mana generators; thus, to conserve mana, whatever could be powered electronically was cut off from the mana generators almost entirely.

"Welcome to Janus Prime," a synthesized voice announced as they approached. "Please follow all standard safety procedures and obey the instructions of researchers; they are being given for your own safety."

The Caribbean woman did not change her expression or her affected attitude for the entirety of the trip. She had been icily calm, still not having recovered fully from her humiliation, and besides that also masking her excitement over the opportunity to once more be within a research facility.

As the Devastators came into view, she pronouncedly blinked once, then again. It was always good to be reassured one's alliance of choice had that kind of superiority. And not just the military power - the mana batteries. Ingeniously crafted and effective. She was most certainly on the right side.

Once or twice, Catalena had had the honor of riding in one. Not being involved in frontal assaults, it had only been for convenient transport, but it had nonetheless felt... powerful.

Petrachkov gave him an odd glance, realized that he was in earnest, and replied. "Oh, uh, Disneyworld is a famous amusement park. Very family-friendly, and therefore retardedly safety-oriented. Hilariously so." Petrachkov remembered a single trip he had made as a child, before the war had broken out. He still had nightmares, sometimes. Hilarious nightmares, but nightmares nonetheless.

As the train slid up to the doors out from the hangar, the synthesized cautioned them further: "Under no circumstances should you attempt to" CLANG "any of the" CLANG

The two-halved door to the main area of the facility opened one half at a time. Blackstone rolled his eyes.

The single rail of track their transport straddled, they noticed, ended quite suddenly in front of them. The train smoothly transitioned to a hanging monorail format, the bottom turning transparent and the top becoming opaque as various arcane mechanisms did their work. The hanging monorail brought them over a wide, open room, half the size of the hangar at least, with various machines bringing and carrying away large metallic crates and barrels constantly. Two robots appeared to be carrying a single barrel back and forth between two nearby stacks; each time one moved the barrel, the other returned from whatever else it was doing to reclaim it.

The monorail continued past this room, accelerating at the end at a glass circle on the metal wall. As the monorail approached, the glass took on a bright blue glow. Predictably, they passed through the glass. They emerged in a lab with a bank of computers against a wall, a great deal of machinery, and no evidence of human habitation or visitation save themselves.

Blackstone extended his hand and declared, "Operatives, meet the Tyrgani Alliance's top codebreaker and the pioneer of our Cypher programs. All of them."

"That would be the idea, yes," a voice - similar to that of the warning voice - replied.

"You don't seem to understand the implications of this," Blackstone commented offhandedly to Petrachkov. "If cyNet3 knew we'd constructed a true AI, they'd s**t their ironclad asses trying to destroy it. This whole facility protects, above all, this one creation."

Catalena ignored Blackstone and Petrachkov after she heard the former's introduction. She immediately began an up-close examination of the room, drinking in the layout. So much knowledge in one machine... a creation that would make cyNet3 angry? She smirked. Those b*****d and its metal asses could bite her. They'd be assimilated soon enough.

She turned to Blackstone, the only trace of her excitement evident in her raw words. "Does she have a name? And when can we begin?"

Vents in the floor launched a thin vapor into the air. "You may call me Cypher Zero. I do not possess a soul, nor do most cyNet3 machines - only perhaps four of them to date have shown such a trait. We'll begin immediately, however."

Lights activated all over the ceiling, floors, and walls, projecting a three-dimensional image of a Cypher spinning around a Code in the center of the vapor cloud.

"This is a Code we recovered from the Cabal some time ago that refers to a set of eight items - four Cyphers and four Codes - an Earth Code read by an enchanting-based Cypher, a Water Code read by a Necromantic Cypher, a Fire Code read by a Channeling Cypher, and an Air Code read by a Shadow Cypher. The Codes are said to be guarded by Demons-Major with power comparable to the Farthest Fallen, only unknown because they guard the Codes in secret places and none have seen their power. The Cyphers are guarded by magic creatures bound by Lucifer, supposedly. It says these will unlock the secrets of Lucifer's Testament."

"We've worked on a related Code partly," Blackstone prompted Cypher Zero.

"Yes, we did." Another 3d light image appeared. "This one indicated the location of the Code of Water - it's guarded by a certain 'Kusaliel' somewhere... beneath... Florida. It should be your first target; I'll be working on the remainder of the section defining the coordinates of its Cypher; it should be faster than before. Though I still lack an appropriately customized Cypher for it, I have a solid base for my translation. Assuming I was right about Florida...."

"We have a captured Coven shuttle from a while back. We finished cleaning the bloodstains out and we're deploying in from the Dutchman. Our officers are too high-profile, mostly. Miriam can shapeshift so she'll go with you, though. Theriden will pilot your shuttle and travel with you - he's a damn good ace pilot, but he's not too well known outside of Tyrg because he doesn't usually do combat craft. You'll be landing in a Coven city at a public dock, and from there you'll be heading out into the swamplands however you see fit."