The Construct
Level 898
Block 485 - The Dark Labyrinth
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
Reisa clutched at her side, the metal of her glove scraping on the dented armour as she tried to cover the hole. She winced, bringing her hand back in front of her face. From behind the cracked and dirty visor of her helmet, everything was blurry, but the pale blue that had stained the white armour was clear as day.
Wincing, Reisa reached her hand behind her, weakly feeling the rear armour for any sign that the round had gone through and through. But the rear panel was in one piece, and that meant that the bullet was still inside her.
She swore, cursing the Vanguard that had managed to get a round off before her own bullet had pierced its mechanical skull. A few quick taps to the right wrist of her suit summoned a holographic display, albeit a glitchy and discoloured one. Through the chips and cracks and grime of her visor, it was impossible to read. Reisa tried to wipe the grime away, but succeeded only in smearing blood on the already filthy surface.
A quick tap on the back of the neck. The helmet disengaged, the airtight seal around the neck releasing with a hiss. Still clutching her wound, Reisa reached up with her free hand and tore the helmet from her head, only just stopping herself from flinging it at the nearest wall. Instead, she gently set it down; the last thing she needed was to attract the Vanguards hunting her.
A sharp breath in. It hurt. But she could still catch her breath, and that meant that at least her lungs were ok. Small mercy. Silver lining. Cold comfort.
Reisa tapped at the display on her wrist. No response. She tapped again. The display glitched out, then settled.
A third tap finally brought up the display for her Strike Suit’s automated medical system.
OFFLINE
It wasn’t unexpected, but Reisa still muttered the most foul swear she knew. She reached down to her utility belt, where she grabbed a small cylindrical injector full of Medifoam. A deep breath, and then Reisa stuck the injector end into her wound, nearly screaming from the pain. But in her agony she found the injector’s trigger and pressed it, biting her lip as the Medifoam filled the wound and sealed it.
It felt better, at least. The Medifoam wouldn’t last forever, but at the very least she wouldn’t bleed out in the immediate future. So that was something.
A noise in the distance. Her head snapped up, her ears scanning for the sound again.
A mechanical clatter. A mechanical howl. A Vanguard. Maybe one from the group that had ambushed her. But maybe not. It was impossible to tell. It also didn’t matter. One Vanguard had the same mission as any other Vanguard; kill humans.
Reisa quickly glanced down at her rifle, checking the digital display. 15 rounds left in the magazine. And Reisa still had another two magazines clipped to her belt. 55 rounds to get her to the Link. If she was a good shot, and she was, that was 55 dead Vanguards. Fewer if the powers that be decided to sent big ones after her, but that rarely happened for single humans.
But the noise faded away into the distance, and Reisa relaxed a tad. All the bullets in the world were useless if she couldn’t even stand, and with her exhaustion and wound, that seemed like a dubious prospect. In the absence of a fighter, Reisa’s mind went back to her Seeker training.
What had it said?
“If you become stranded, there are five steps” Resia spoke quietly to herself,
“Step One: Ascertain your surroundings”
This was both easy and hard. She was in the Dark Labyrinth, a sprawling maze of corridors, open spaces, and random drops into the abyss below.
As for where she was specifically, that was the hard part. Reisa looked around her. She was leaning against wall of flawless and seamless black metal, which ran on in both directions for what seemed like forever. Across from her was a completely identical wall, though this one turned inwards a few hundred feet to her left.
Above her was a seemingly infinitely large space, riddled with vast pipes, walkways, walls, and other remnants of the Forger’s erratic and aimless construction efforts. Barely effective lights sporadically placed around the underside of the machinery above, the soft white light stopping just short of illuminating the floor.
But such a sight was visible from almost anywhere in the Construct, and in her rush to escape the Vanguard hunting team, Reisa hadn’t noticed which identical black metal catwalk she had fallen off of. And even if she had, the walls of the Labyrinth around her were tens of feet tall. And from the limited reconnaissance other Seeker’s had conducted, it was known that the Dark Labyrinth stretched for hundreds if not thousands of miles in every direction.
So Reisa wasn’t walking out. She wasn’t climbing out. And barring another Seeker patrol coming along, she wasn’t getting carried out.
So fuck the steps.
If she was going to die here, in a dark corridor in the Dark Labyrinth in the middle of nowhere, then she was going to die trying to get home.
“Stand up” Reisa told herself, “Stand up you worthless waste of space”
Slowly, and with great internal swearing, she stood, turning to look both directions. If she went right, only the Ancestors knew when there would be a turn. But if she went left, there was a turn right there.
Was it a dead end? Maybe. Was it a trap door that would lead to her brutal demise? Also maybe.
But it was equally likely to at least be another corridor that would take her….somewhere.
Reisa reached down and dragged her gun up and onto her back-mounted magnetic mount. The Double H rifle wasn’t exactly light, and the extra weight made walking that much harder, but Reisa wasn’t about to try and take on a Vanguard in hand-to-hand combat.
So with grim determination, Reisa set off towards the next corridor, the metal of the suit’s boots making a solid “thump” with every step, the suit light illuminating the black metal all around her.
A sole light in a dark space. A sole noise in an endless silence.
———————————
The Construct
Level 898
Block 912 - Village Of Val Rania
The atmosphere was thick in the chamber. The large room was dark and cold, with only a handful of electric torches on the walls illuminating the dull concrete in an ugly yellow light. A few fires burned in metal bowls around the perimeter, giving off only the faintest hint of heat. Every so often a drip of water would fall from the rusty and poorly maintained pipes that made up most of the ceiling.
At the back of the room, set on a small elevated section of floor, was a long metal table, somewhat ornate in design, but so badly rusted that its former glory was nearly completely gone. Sitting behind it were the nine members of the Val Rania Overwatch, each of them clad in dark blue jumpsuits. Below them, in the front of the room, was a small seating area for viewing council proceedings. The seats were empty though, and the only other person in the room was Sigrad, who wasted no time in calling out the people seated above him.
“You did WHAT?!”
The Overwatch members winced. They weren’t used to being so openly raged against, especially not by a man whom was oft-considered to be the best Seeker in all of Val Rania.
“Sigrad please, calm down, we can….” Overwatcher Olina nearly pleaded, holding her hands up in a pacifying manner.
But Sigrad was having none of it, “We can what? What exactly can we do? You sent her into the Dark Labyrinth! What sort of idiotic notions made you think that was a good idea?!’
Olina sighed wearily, “We had no other choice. You of all people should know the value of a fully functional Auto-Forge. If there was any chance we could get our hands on it….”
It was a sentiment Sigrad had heard a million times before, and he sighed irritably, “Fuck your Auto-Forge. Reisa is barely out of Seeker training. You shouldn’t have sent her on such a dangerous assignment!”
“As Olina said, we had no choice” The powerful voice of High Overwatcher Kartaranya cut through the shouting, “Do you really think we would have sent your sister on a mission of this importance if we had anyone more experienced?”
Sigrad started to retort, but Overwatcher Dantero cut him off, “All of our most experienced Seekers were either already assigned to a task, or….incapable of performing their duties,” Dantero cast a solemn glance out past Sigrad, towards the door of the chamber, “But regardless, the fact of the matter is that your sister, new as she may be to the Seekers, is still one of the best shots in the entire force! If any of the new recruits are capable of taking care of themselves, it’s your sister”
A cold silence fell over the chamber as Sigrad stood there, his piercing grey eyes shooting daggers at the Overwatch. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, composed, and absolute,
“I’m going after her”
Now it was Overwatcher Istos who spoke up, albeit in a calm but stern voice, “Absolutely not. There are too few Seekers in Val Rania as is. We will not lose the most experienced one still standing on a rescue mission.”
“I don’t give a damn. You sent my sister on a suicide mission. If you lose me to, it’ll be your own fault. More blood on your hands, Overwatcher.” Sigrad’s voice was full of venom, but Istos wasn’t fazed.
“Don’t be stupid, Sigrad,” Istos focused his severe gaze on the man, “Our defences are precarious enough as is, without losing someone of your talent and experience. Your departure would leave almost nothing to defend Val Rania, save for the Militia and the few novice Seekers we have around. Neither of those would survive a major Vanguard assault”
Now Istos leaned forwards, furrowing his brow and putting a strong emphasis on each word, “Is the life of your sister really worth the lives of every civilian in this town?”
It was clear that Sigrad was torn by this question. He stood silent, the heavy gazes of the Overwatch bearing down on him, while his mind raced. It was his sister that was missing, after all. How could any man be expected to simply sit around doing nothing while his own flesh and blood was out there, maybe dead, maybe dying.
But at the same time, and as much as Sigrad hated to admit it, Istos was right. There were nearly two thousand people in Val Rania, most of them civilians. The so-called Militia was composed of only about one hundred people, and the most harrowing situations they dealt with was the occasional fight over rations. A major Vanguard assault would tear them apart. The few Seekers who were still in town were novices, and recalling all Seekers currently on assignment would take days.
So Istos was beyond right. He was spot-on.
Even so…
“I cannot simply leave my sister out there. If something happened to her….” Sigrad couldn’t tell if he was angry or desperate, but either way, his voice betrayed his indecision to the Overwatch. Kartaranya sighed, her eyes full of pity, “Sigrad, we know that this is difficult. It was never our intention for this to happen. And we truly wish that we could do more for you.”
There were murmurs of agreement from the other members of the Overwatch as Kartaranya continued,
“A Runner from Ars’Orena arrived a day or two ago. He brought news that Lasiro and his team were on the way back here. Assuming all goes well, they’ll be back here in a matter of days. If you can stay until they return....then we will give you leave to go out and find your sister, and hopefully her team”, he paused and cast glances at the other members of the Overwatch, “I assume that is an acceptable plan to my colleagues?”
Dantero, gave a side-eye glance to Kartaranya, but nodded, “It is acceptable. Far from ideal, but acceptable.”
The other members of the Overwatch nodded with varying degrees of conviction; though they may have disagreed with the plan, they wouldn’t say anything. Out of fear of Sigrad or Kartaranya, it was hard to say. But to Sigrad it didn’t matter why. He stood in silence, then reluctantly nodded.
“Fine. You have me here until Lasiro returns. Then I’m gone” Heavy emphasis lay on the final two words, so much so that Kartaranya almost winced, but then he too nodded.
“I understand. We appreciated your willingness to cooperate”
Sigrad muttered a curse under his breath before turning and stalking out of the chamber without another word. The members of the Overwatch all sighed deeply, though Istos also scoffed, “Unbelievable. That man is reckless. How could he even consider abandoning us for one person”
At this comment, Olina shot Istos a harsh look, “As if you would not act in the same manner were it your brother out there, Overwatcher.”
“I am not sworn to defend this city. My absence wouldn’t put lives at risk,” Istos shot back. Olina was about to respond when Kartaranya held up his hand,
“Enough you two. The matter is settled. We have other things to discuss,” He spoke with authority, and reluctantly Istos and Olina quieted down, “Now then. On to the rest of our agenda”
OOC: Trying this again. So I don’t really have a particular game plan for this RP. The general idea is that you end up getting stranded in the Construct (your ship gets caught in the gravity well and gets dragged through a hole, or something like that), and subsequently encounter humans living onboard, and then adventures happen. TG me for entry please.
