"So? What happened?"Inside the castle of Kingsted a formal hearing had been put in place. In the room that normally only would be populated by the royal family and high ranking n.o.bles a even higher seat of power had gathered. The archangel Solaris, along with a few subordinate angles represented the 14th sanctuary. Crown princess of the kingdom Teresa together with her father, the king represented the central kingdom, and Dax represented himself.
"Do you want the long or short answer?"
"This is a hearing so I think we have time for both."
As Terasa lead the conversation with Dax the other parties simply listened along.
"Okay, the short answer is that what happened is the exact same scenario that I stopped here in the Kingdom, and up north in the Republic."
"What you stopped?"
"Yeah, antimatter cell detonations, or as we call it in the Galactic Empire "annihilation events". Remember when I repeatedly tried to warn you about the sphere that crashed outside Kingstead was about to blow up and you people ignored me?"
"Ugh."
"Please tell us more about this specific event Dax."
As Solaris took over from Teresa the angels she had brought along tensed up.
"This time it was a strike core that detonated, most likely from tampering, luckily the safety kicked in and limited the blast radius considerably."
With Dax starting his explanation as a que, a hologram lit up on the table in between them and showed a recording of the detonation as it was recorded by Dax"s satellite in orbit.
"As I said luckily the safety system kicked in and limited the blast quite considberly, but that means there is a high chance of radioactive fallout-"
"What the h.e.l.l do you mean "limited"? Control your weapons or the sanctuary will do it for you!"
Getting interrupted mid sentence by one of the angels Dax took a deep breath and breathed a sigh before continuing.
"I hate being interrupted. Now the chance of radioactive fallout might mean nothing to you people, but it is of utmost importance that I investigate the site and make sure no trace of radiation remains, and treat the affected area if any radiation fallout is present. To that end what can you tell me about the area?"
---
"The ground is still warm… ICI give me an area scan."
Standing in what had until recently been a lush forest Dax bent down and touched the black and charred ground as he looked around at his surroundings. As far as his enhanced eyesight could see was mostly burned ground, with the very edge of the crater and a few blown over trees covered in sood about 6 kilometers away.
[SCANNING, STANDBY… NO LIFE DETECTED.]
"Obviously… What about radiation?"
[STANDBY… AREA CLEAR.]
"That means all the safeties worked correctly even after a hundred years… Impressive design Ra.. Continue CAS-A7 holding pattern."
[CONFIRMED. CAS-A7 HOLDING OVERWATCH AT 10 CLICKS.]
Glancing up at the small dot in the air that was the landing craft that brought him there Dax thought about what to do next.
(There"s no way to tell what ticked it off, but was most likely someone that tried to open the s.h.i.+ny orange container with fancy warning symbols to see what was inside..)
"Maybe we should had made the containers of something that smells really bad? Nah that would be stu-"
Being cut short in his own monologue and train of thought Dax was pierced by a metal arrow through the chest.
"That"s strange… ICI give me a full area scan."
Not really surprised that someone/thing had snuck up on him but more that his hardened skin and muscles had been completely penetrated by what looked to have been a relatively normal full steel arrow.
[NO LIFE SIGNS DETECTED.]
"Well something is definitely abnormal.."
Dodging another arrow that was clearly meant for his head this time as he ripped the first one out of his chest Dax wondered if there was something wrong with ICI.
"Please scan using something other than thermal please."
[INITIATING FULL SYSTEM SCAN, STANDBY..]
"No need, pelt the area to my 10 O"clock, 1 click out please."
Having doged another arrow while meant for his head Dax had managed to narrow down the barring of his attacker.
[DIRECTIVE RECEIVED, CAS-A7 MOVING INTO ATTACK PATTERN.]
In the sky above Dax the Stinger moved into a dive as multiple small thrusters all over the surface lit up to adjust the heading.
[ATTACK PATTERN ACHIEVED, ARMING MENHIT WEAPON SYSTEM.]
"Advanced rapid type close-in weapons system "Menhit".. I would try and doge that, otherwise you"ll die~"
[WEAPON HOT, SPLASH 5 SECONDS.]
With a terrible sound as if the sky split open with thunder the ground where Dax suspected the enemy to be was covered in a layer of multiple explosions as the area was pelted with a mix of shrapnel and metal flechette darts.
"Splash, target down… Or not.."
As yet another arrow whizzed past his head Dax breathed a deep sigh while cracking his neck.
"I"ll deal with this myself, ICI stand down."
Charging directly ahead Dax soon spotted his attacker coming out of the smoke unscaved. Covered from head to toe in camouflaged armor, the only thing that stood out to Dax was the extremely large two handed metal bow that looked to have way too heavy of a draw weight to be usable.
"Of course they"re bow users…"
Closing in as the attacker drew another arrow Dax stretched out artificial arm that quickly split open.
"But there"s no way you can use that without manipulating mana~"
Jamming magic in the area around his attacker Dax continued closing the range and was now only about 500 meters from the camouflaged figure, when his arm was cybernetic arm was destroyed by another arrow.
"REALLY!? That one was brand new!"
Proving that magic interference meant very little, the archer continued firing off arrows rapidly towards the ever closing in Dax, that responded by purging his now useless cybernetic arm and threw it at the archer. Responding to the treat the archer blocked Dax"s improvised throwing weapon with it"s bow and then used released the bowstring, transforming the bow into a two handed battlestaff and slashed at Dax with deadly intent. Dax not keen to see if that weapon could also pierce his skin jumped over the slash and kicked up sood as he landed in an attempt to blind the archer as he moved in for the kill. Connecting his fist with something in the smoke Dax didn"t really feel so sure about having killed the archer, and quickly s.h.i.+elded head with his arm. Being immediately proven correct in his hunch Dax felt an arrow pierce through his forearm and stuck itself halfway through.
(f.u.c.k HE"S GOOD!)
Ripping out the arrow with his teeth Dax threw the arrow back at the archer and moved in close once more. As the sood in the air cleared the archer flinched when Dax emerged at extremely close range.
"Oh no you don"t!"
As the archer tried to slash Dax with it"s bow once more Dax caught it by biting down on it as he punched the camouflaged figure in the chest with most of his strength, sending the camouflaged archer flying without it"s bow.
"That"s one.. Now for the others."
Having dealt with one archer Dax counted at least 11 more at the edge of the crater, with the one he disarmed standing up again looking mostly unharmed.
"Are you f.u.c.king kidding me… ICI weapons free."
[WEAPONS FREE, INITIATING PRECISION ARTILLERY.]
Feeling mostly done with the fighting the faceless camouflaged archers Dax freed ICI to engage them. Opening up fire from up high, the weapon system Menhit lived up to the old G.o.d it was named after as it started ma.s.sacring the camouflaged arches. The archer"s suffered heavy casualties before consolidating and hiding behind some sort of impenetrable magic barrier, and from there they started to gather all traces of mana in the surrounding atmosphere.
"f.u.c.k! Stinger, break off and disengage now!"
Realizing what was happening Dax shouted out commands to the Stinger in the middle of its attack run. The very second after the last burst of HE-FRAG rounds. .h.i.t the archer"s s.h.i.+eld it broke apart and one of archer"s pointed it"s bow towards the Stinger and released an arrow glowing and infused with runic magic Dax had never seen before.
[CAFF, FLARES.]
Inside the empty c.o.c.kpit of the Stinger a automated voice over sounded as the craft released radar reflecting caff and inferred disrupting thermal flares as the the craft went into a dive while countless orientational and rotational thrusters all over the craft lit up in accordance with complex 3 dimensional maneuvers plotted by the on board AI. As the magic enhanced arrow flew up toward the Stinger it started accelerating and maneuver towards the evading craft as if guided by the air itself.
[CAFF, FLARES. SOFT KILL SYSTEM ONLINE.]
Releasing another batch of caff and flares multiple small pods emerged out all over the Stinger. The pods started tracking the arrow heading towards the Stinger and bathed it in concentrated bursts of electromagnetic radiation designed to fry and blind any known electronic guidance system, but that had little effect on the runic array that propelled and guided the arrow towards its target.
[FINAL DEFENSE PERIMETER BREACHED. CAFF, FLARES. HARD KILL SYSTEM ONLINE, LOCALIZING EVENT.]
With the arrow still accelerating towards the Stinger it broke the sound barrier while slowly catching up to the Stinger that hopelessly released countermeasures.
[EVENT LOCALIZED, PULSING.]
Having closed the distance to about 200 meters the arrow only seemed to keep accelerating, but was suddenly and violently torn apart by extreme gravitational tidal forces produced by the Stingers gravitational field generator and blew up with a force measured in the range of a tonne of TNT. Dax however didn"t see this however, party because the Stinger had moved out of his line of sight, and partly because he had more pressing issues.
"I should really had brought some weapons…"
Surrounded by the remaining camouflaged archer"s Dax was covered in wounds and was currently sitting on the ground with his hand raised above his head.
"I surrender. Do you guys understand what I"m saying?"
Being met with silence initially Dax started to wonder if they didn"t take prisoners until a few moments later when the leading camouflaged archer walked up to him and placed a metal collar inscribed with runes around his neck as she took off her hood and facemask to reveal a pair of long pointed ears partially covered by long golden blonde hair.
"You will be held responsible for this, outsider."
Speaking with an exotic accent that indicated she didn"t speak her own tongue, the archer"s emerald green eyes shone in a cold light filled with hate and anger.
"Those sure are some fine eyes, my name is Dax. What"s yours, miss elf?"
"Silence."
With a wave of her hand the runes on the collar around Dax"s neck lit up and sent out a powerful electric shock. Falling on his face Dax remembered Solaris" words from the meeting.
"-To that end what can you tell me about the area?"
"That forest is deep inside elven territory."
"And?"
"Elves are a reclusive race that hate outsiders, and after us angels and a few others they are the best at manipulating mana. They are highly skilled and ruthless to outsiders, please be careful when investing."
"What? Are you worried?~"
"I AM NOT!"