Chapter 30

Abi, Brianna and I were studying the fusion borer as supplied, completely rebuilt by the Loegrians.

“They don’t mind us borrowing it?” I queried.

“No, as I told you a while ago this is quite crude compared to the method we use, plus quite expensive,” Brianna replied.

“Also, they have several copies for study,” Abi added.

“Why’s that, if it’s so crude?” I asked.

“Useful teaching aid, particularly as we now have an actual working version of a Mage type to show them as well,” Brianna explained.

“Ah, so it’s a history lesson,” I chuckled.

“Pretty much so, yes. Though we leave a few details of the borer/pulveriser version out of it due to the Loegrian equivalents of copyright.”

“And not wanting to lose a trade advantage to the Over-masters too,” I added.

“True,” Brianna nodded. “Loegria earns a lot of trade credits through their ability to bore straight, vacuum-tight tunnels for maglevs.”

“No need for vacuum on this one,” Abi noted.

“No, we just drop it like a bomb, directly above the greater Psiontial and let gravity do the work for us,” Brianna replied as she went over a checklist.

“Just have to make sure we aren’t spotted and caught by any aftershocks as we’ll be working nulled up to protect us from the scream,” I added.

“Yes, we might have to fight if they catch us, though the Seers believe they can keep them busy elsewhere,” Brianna noted.

“Plus, we can’t drop it through a hidden portal in case they catch us doing that.”

“Not with you needing Null, it’s too slow and you’d disrupt the field,” Abi added. “It will take at least three hours to reach the chamber they have this creature in and we will also have to hide the hole it makes with a plug, though that we can drop through a portal as hopefully they’ll be a bit busy dealing with an earthquake.”

“Wonder if they’ll spot us?” I mused.

“At some stage they’re bound too, though hopefully not until the ceiling of this chamber begins to melt,” Abi replied with a smile.

“Yes, that will breach their shields and set off any number of alarms, but, hopefully, too late,” Brianna nodded.

“Yes, we’ve checked the path you’re taking, as far as we can tell, there’s nothing in your way, plus a greater Psiontial isn’t very mobile, so moving it from their point of view is a non-starter,” Abi confirmed.

“Just need to go over the plans with Mage Roxanne ... again.” I replied as we finished the checks we needed to do.

“So, we ... or rather the Seers set off a minor earthquake in that region, which you believe will take the Orcs’ eye off the ball when you port in with this borer?” Roxanne asked rhetorically. “You then set it off from a drop frame and ride it down in the capsule attached, with the Seers removing the frame and dropping a plug in place to hide the hole?”

“Yes, Mage Roxanne,” Brianna replied for us.

“What happens if they spot you?”

“We bug out and come up with another plan, if close to the surface. If we’re over a third of the way down we port out, but keep the borer going with a self-destruct in place to set off a fusion explosion once it’s close enough to the chamber,” I replied.

“Why a third?”

“Before that, there’s a chance they could get this greater Psiontial out; after that, no chance.”

“If they call in a Thaumaturge?”

“Athena tries to keep them off our backs, but I suspect they won’t realise what we’re up to as their Thaumaturges, other than Inquisitors, rarely leave Draenoric.”

“Playing the odds, I see,” Roxanne nodded.

“A bit, I suspect this Seeker will look at anything going on near this site as being suspicious, but unless he can dig faster than this thing sinks, he’s not going to be able to stop it, plus we’ve installed cloaking on the structure to initially hide it from the Orcs.”

“Initially?”

“It will burn off because of the heat of the tunnel walls as we won’t be able to keep it cool due to being in Null to protect us from the mental scream.”

“Ah, right.”

“How many are you taking?” asked Xi.

“Five, myself, John, Abi, Ilzik and Dunon,” Brianna replied.

“I presume Abi is going in order to secretly port you out?”

“Yes, Xi. Unfortunately none of us can do that for ourselves.”

“Aye, only Simon, Morgana and now Sofya can manage a hidden port and they tell me that the headache it creates can last for days,” Roxanne nodded.

“So I’m told, Roxanne,” I replied with a wry smile.

“Why Dunon and Ilzik?”

“The capsule has built in defensive weaponry, which Dunon is trained to use. Ilzik is coming along in case we need to get out through one of the various side tunnels in this complex where the chamber is and we need a scout.”

“I take it that when you’re in the chamber environs it’ll be too late for the Orcs to stop you?”

“Yes, Roxanne, way too late.”

“So why not just port?”

“Shopping list from Harmel and Tchac’trar,” I shrugged. “Only if we get the chance though.”

“Might have known,” Roxanne sighed.

“Might not be possible. There will be a lot of Orcs around, but they do want us to try if we get the chance. Mostly it’s high tech as used in their military bases, as we didn’t really get a chance to loot the last bunker.”

“True, we were a tad busy. No quantum planetary neural disrupters down there?” she asked Athena.

“Not that I can tell, though if possible we can look for a potential backup version and bring it here for study. Abi will know what it is if she sees one. We’ve located four of the working things now, all under their major city temples,” Athena replied. “They’re well shielded, but with the help of the extra Seers, we’re figuring out their methodology in the patterns they throw out. But, it’s slow going. I can’t even use my powers as they just slide off the things as if they aren’t there.”

“Let me know when you think you have them all and we’ll look into a way of destroying them,” Roxanne nodded.

“Only the original Orb will be an issue, the others are not so ... robust. If very well guarded.”

“So, the only real issue is how the Orcs will react to the earthquake?”

“Yes, we believe it will distract those on the ground. The Seers will also be hoping to bag an Adept or his staff during the initial confusion too,” Brianna replied.

“Just don’t do it if the Seeker is there.”

“We won’t, Roxanne,” Jemima replied for the gestalt.

“OK, I like it. Spend the rest of the week fine tuning it, but be ready to act this coming Saturday,” Roxanne commanded. “Jemima, I want the Seers to set up a series of incidents to make it look as if this thing isn’t disrupting our activities, if you can.”

“We can mentally target Crimonachs and Omniscients randomly, yes,” Jemima nodded.

“That’s all we’ll need. Let them think it’s business as usual until you set off the earthquake.”

“Yes, Roxanne.’

Crnnch sighed. It had been a long week and it rather looked like the greater Psiontial had not disrupted this new enemy’s activities to any great degree, if the number of dead guardians in various sites was to be believed. For the first couple of days he’d had the guards of the underground bunker it was located on, on full alert, but then it became obvious that the enemy were ignoring the creature, so they were ordered stood down. Currently he had two Adepts investigating a series of horde block riots, though he was fast coming to the conclusion that it was a natural occurrence stemming from the usual civ-grunt habit of giving offence to anyone of the same or lesser rank, not in their horde.

He had expected the enemy to follow up on their attack on him, but it appeared as if they had all they wanted for now. Which suggested two things; either they rated him as something to avoid, or they had found all they wanted to know and had dismissed him as not worth their attention. Either way, the lack of data he had on them made this investigation very difficult. Even the data he had on them from the Omniscient was suspect as the images on it were clearly the result of holographic imagery and did not match the shadowy figures seen in the mist of the power plant. Yet again suggesting that the enemy were well aware of Yr’ch capabilities and were merely playing with the teams investigating them.

“Seeker, we have a potential incident at the site where the greater Psiontial is held!” His meditations were interrupted by a call from Adept Slaarg.

“Define ‘potential incident’, if you please,” he hissed.

“A major earthquake.”

“Is the base or the creature damaged?”

“No, but you wished to be informed of anything happening near them.”

“I did. However, unless other corroborating evidence comes to light, I’m going to presume this enemy cannot trigger earthquakes.” Crnnch dismissed the Adept.

We had to get Abi to activate our Null medallions as we set up the borer above the devastated surface area that had been part of the grounds of a secure base used for storage by the Orcs. The mental interference from the greater Psiontial was just too distracting for us ordinary Mages to raise any kind of spell. Abi however seemed able to manage reasonably well, though it was fairly obvious she wasn’t enjoying being in range of the thing. Dunon was wearing one too, though as a Loegrian (and mundane), he wasn’t affected by the ‘scream’ at all.

“Angle is correct, beginning pre-heat sequence,” Brianna stated as we went through the complex start-up sequence.

“Thunderbirds are go!” I chuckled as the borer did look a little like the mole machine used in the puppet series, drawing grins from Brianna and Abi, but looks of confusion from Ilzik and Dunon until I explained.