Thread:FleetCaptainT/@comment-27324808-20170613203147

Fifty-two

  After reaching Crux Prime, Mara docked the Starchief at the tower’s 850th level, which Suave got them clearance to do to avoid the combat below. They had to move quickly so Nexus Force spaceships could resume their orbital bombardments, having paused when the Starchief entered the scene, so everyone on the bridge looked a little sick until they descended onto the landing pad. Ray cut the primary engines with gusto.

  “A service crew will take care of the ship.” Suave said while he activated the signal to disembark. “Meet you at the Ring?”

  Kate nodded. “We’ll get Blade and see this Verbina.” she said.

  “Keep an eye on Krill.” Rover advised. “I don’t think his intentions are entirely altruistic.”

  “Will do,” Suave said, “if he’s even still here.”

  Indeed, Krill was nowhere to be found on the ship. After they disembarked, Suave lead the thirty Nexus Force troopers and the rest of the team to the main Assembly plaza where the Ring Breacher had been displayed. Now it was looped off behind energy fences and Sentinel Guards had been called in to protect it. In preparation of using it, Suave pulled rank so Ben could set it up. The plan as it stood was to dial-in the Maelstrom Dimension and go from there, without consulting the Future Dimension first. They were effectively going in blind, but the team agreed to do all they reasonably could to rescue Cyclone, Edgar, Ryder, Jay, and Katie before proceeding with the next stage of the plan. Intrepid hadn’t shared the details of his plan, it was a fairly terrible plan, but if successful they could never enter the Maelstrom Dimension again.

  That step needed a working Unverse Manipulator, and for that they needed Verbina. Alternatively, Intrepid could pay a visit to the Future Dimension, but the last they’d heard from that dimension was that it was under worse assault. Considering they hadn’t heard from Future Intrepid, Luke, Mara, Charles, or Red, Intrepid had to consider there might not even be a Future Leek Works to land in and get resources from anymore. Activating the Ring Breacher in the middle of Nexus Tower presented enough security risks that they didn’t want to overdo it.

  Eventually Kate, Rover, Blade, Intrepid, Jonna, Skilled Honored Ninja, and Strange Odd Shadow took the elevators to the research and development level, a minimally lit area. So long as there was a raging battle being fought outside the lights were dimmed in alert mode, they cast a dark blue hue in the windowless interior hallways.

  Jonna went to an information plaque on the wall. “Most Assembly researchers are working on the field,” she reported, “but Verbina’s in the northern Inter-faction-cooperation lab.”

  “Assembly and Paradox work together in there.” Blade explained. “I’ve been there a bit to get my gear upgraded. Lots of cool stuff there.”

  They rounded a bend and went through a short connector way to enter that lab. Jonna entered a passcode to open the door, and then they were in a suddenly bright room. There were few personnel present, the highlight of the room were hundreds of creations placed on tables all around the room. There were existing items being upgraded with experimental tech, like a Bat Lord helm fused to a vest of armor that Intrepid held himself back from gravitating to, and even entirely new concept items.

  Strange Odd Shadow picked up a particular weapon in the style of a double barreled sidearm. “Should this be here?” he asked, and he held the weapon next to the two multiblasters hanging on Intrepid’s side, one from each Red. Intrepid looked down. There was a distinct similarity between the weapons.

  “A lot of Leek Works’s standard tech is former Nexus Force experiments in my dimension.” Skilled said. “It was part of our agreement when working for the Council; they get our subservience, we get their tech. Looks like you found a prototype multiblaster.”

  Shadow tested aiming the prototype multiblaster then set it down. “I wonder if there are Unverse Manipulators here?”

  “Probably not.” Skilled said. “Those only got introduced eight years ago for me. They took a few years to build too.”

  “Like what you see?” a woman’s voice asked, and they looked up to see a lady wearing an Assembly coat over Inventor clothes. She was tall, obviously an adult, but her face looked young for an older person, putting her age around thirty years. Her bright blond hair was styled up in the back professionally but at her face it draped around an expression that was all smiles.

  Skilled coughed and flashed a grin. “Verbina, I presume?” he said.

  “That is my given name.” Verbina confirmed, still smiling. Her eyes danced over each of them curiously.

  “Right.” Skilled stuck out a hand. “I’m Skilled Honored Ninja, and you can call me Shard. I’m from a Future Dimension.” The introductions went from there before he could elaborate further.

  “I’m Kate.”

  “Cheerful Power Rover.”

  “Master Blade Nine, Sentinel knight and collector of antiquities!”

  “Epic Fivestar Empanada, or Jonna.”

  “The Original Janitor.”

  “Intrepid.”

  “I was about to explain,” Shard continued, “I’m from another Dimension. Set in the Future, a whole twenty years ahead. Oh, and your counterpart and I are colleagues. I gotta say though, before the chance evades me, we’re a better match like this-”

  Shadow hit him with his broomstick. “Stop flirting!” he ordered. “Get to the point! Tell her about the Nexus Figures!”

  “I know Multiverse theory, but what’s ‘the Nexus Figures’?” Verbina echoed, interested.

  “Nexus Figures?” Blade repeated too. “Explain.”

  “They’re a little like Superians, in the sense they have super abilities.” Shadow said.

  “That’s nice, but you’ve still explained nothing, since I have no idea what a Superian is.” Blade complained.

  “You mean you don’t understand me. That’d be your problem, not mine.”

  “Super abilities, like Maelstrom Minifigures?” Verbina asked.

  “I have no idea what those are either.” Blade groaned, and even Jonna and Rover looked clueless.

  “You’re not supposed to. Tell me more about these Nexus Figures?” Verbina said, switching the subject.

  “You should know,” Shard stated, “you research them.”

  Verbina laughed. “I don’t think so.”

  “Maybe not yet?” Shard suggested.

  “If you read my resume, I research Nexus Shards, Shard.” Verbina clarified. “It’s an obscure term I’ve coined for remnants of former Imagination Nexuses. Like Maelstrom Shards, just with Imagination. In the right conditions, Nexus Shards can be fostered and cultivated into full Nexuses; that’s my theory at least.”

  Shard grinned and bowed out. “Ah, you’re right. My bad.” He turned around to face his teammates. “The document did say Nexus Shards, not Figures. I have failed you all.”

  She can still help. Intrepid thought, and he stepped forwards to show the Unverse Manipulator. “Can you fix this? It’s for traveling to other dimensions. It’s called an Unverse Manipulator.”

  She took it, which was a good sign. “Mind if I disassemble this?” she asked.

  “It’s good as broken now.” Intrepid said, effectively relinquishing the device.

  “Like a paperweight.” Verbina set it on a table and activated its tabletop building zone. Inside the blue hued shield, the Manipulator split into its individual components. After giving the parts a once-over, she went to a supply cabinet, talking all the way. “Do you know how this ‘Unverse Manipulator’ works?”

  Intrepid shook his head.

  “It has two energy sources. The primary: an Imaginite Crystal.” Verbina looked up and raised an eyebrow. “The secondary: Maelstrom Ore. This is how you get Maelstrom resurgences, in case you were wondering.”

  Intrepid sighed. The more they dove into Future Leek Works’s secret workings, the less he liked it. “It’s there for a reason.” he figured.

  “Whoever built this better have had a damn good reason for using Maelstrom.” Verbina grumbled. “Anyway, Imaginite is a conventional energy source. Here it serves the dual purpose of sustaining an Imagination shield bubble around the user and establishing a neural link with the user. The Maelstrom Ore is kept inert in a passive shield container, but the shield can be ‘pierced’ to stimulate the Ore, like a spark-plug.”

  “To breach Unverse.” Intrepid said. “That’s what Maelstrom Ore does. That’s how the Manipulator works.”

  “If you say so. The problem here is that the Imaginite Crystal got overloaded and all the circuitry is shot.” Verbina reported. “I can rewire it in minutes. Grab me a wiring kit from the supply closet?” She pointed to the opposite wall.

  “Sure.”

  As Intrepid passed, she said quietly in his direction, “You’re a Talmid, aren’t you?”

  Intrepid slowed to a stop. “How did you know?” he asked.

  “I didn’t ask how you people knew me.”

  Intrepid scrunched his face and went to get the wiring kit. After returning, he saw the rest of their team had meandered elsewhere. He figured Verbina would appreciate info, so after setting down the tools he told her, “I’m Abe and Hafwyn’s son. Did you know them?”

  “I knew of them. Abe is Killian’s brother.”

  Intrepid didn’t correct the tense. “So you know my uncle.” The man in the prison on Militiregnum had never mentioned a Verbina. Just one of many surprises about him. At least she seemed nice. “Did you know he’s on Militiregnum?” he let her know.

  “He went back there?” she echoed. “I figured he was off world or put away somewhere, since we’ve been out of contact more than two years. Funny he’d go to Militiregnum of all places.”

  Intrepid had no idea the deal with that place and he didn’t ask. He began prefacing a question instead. “It’s a fact that chaotically induced unverse breaches are damaging to unverse.”

  “Damaging, how?”

  “Destroyed unverse impedes transdimensional travel. There’s an unverse hole on Crux Prime now, ripped open when a room full of industrial chaos breachers exploded.”

  “Rip in peace.” Verbina joked.

  “Right.” Then Intrepid asked his question. “Can you build me an unverse ripper? ”

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