"Captain! Starboard stabilizer fin! The patch repair has blown out again!"
Before we could even sigh in relief after escaping the chaos of the Devourer and Chrome Hounds, Leon's desperate shout tore through the bridge.
A few effective hits from Caligo's fleet had struck exactly the weak points of the kitbashed repairs that Vent and Leon had patched up to barely allow flight.
"Damn it!"
I gripped the control stick, but the ship was already out of control.
Like a bird with a broken right wing, the Lumina Lip began to spiral down uncontrollably.
"Lilia, Vent! Brace for impact! Leon! Divert all remaining output to the port engine! We have to level out somehow!"
Amidst the ship screaming as if it were tearing apart, red emergency lights dyed the bridge endlessly red.
Where we were crashing was the 'Ancient Floating Island Zone' Vent had pointed out.
"There... we have to go there!"
Lilia pointed below the clouds with a pale face.
"I see a massive ruin! Into that shadow...!"
That place was the very floating island where our destination, 'The Forgotten Archives', was located.
"Hold on tight!"
I pulled the control stick with the last of my strength.
Then, the Lumina Lip nose-dived into the deepest shadow between the crumbled pillars of the massive ancient ruin.
Boom— rumble...!
With the terrible sound of the hull bottom scraping against stone, the Lumina Lip came to a halt, practically embedding itself into the shadow of the giant ruin.
"..."
A few seconds of silence.
"Is everyone... okay?"
A barely cracked voice came out of my mouth.
"A... Alive."
Leon muttered while lying prone on the console.
I looked beyond the control stick.
The place we crashed into was a natural cave-like space created by two massive collapsed pillars covering the top like a roof.
The top of the ship was hidden by thick rock, and the entrance was wrapped in thick Aether fog.
"Ship concealment is perfect."
Vent said, checking the radar.
"With this level of natural cover, even if Caligo's men come back, it will be hard for them to find us from the sky."
But the relief was momentary.
"But we are immobilized like this."
Leon brought up the status window with a despairing voice.
"The stabilizer fin repair section is completely blown away. This isn't a shelter avoiding their pursuit, it's our new grave."
"Not yet."
Vent cut off Leon immediately with a cold voice. He looked back at me and reported.
"Captain. Leon and I will start emergency repairs immediately. But we need an external perimeter watch."
I instantly realized his intention and nodded.
"Right, Lilia and I will take the watch. Vent, Leon. Take care of the ship."
We had escaped using the massive threat called the Devourer as a shield, but in the end, we had crash-landed right in the middle of the enemy's den with a broken wing.
*
Bzzt— Clang! Clang! Clank—!
From the outside of the Lumina Lip's hull, the metallic noise of Leon's plasma torch spewing fire and Vent's steel prosthetic moving restlessly echoed uneasily in the shadow of the ruins.
It had been a full six hours since we crash-landed here.
Let alone flying, the Lumina Lip, diagnosed as immobilized, was truly a massive lump of scrap metal.
"Damn this ancient alloy! Even my kitbashing tools can't weld it properly!"
Leon's hysterical shout could be heard all the way to the bridge.
The Chrome Hounds' effective hits had dug exactly into the weakest link of the temporary repairs.
He hung desperately to revive the connection of the destroyed starboard stabilizer fin, but the damage far exceeded his expectations.
"Captain."
Just then, Vent returned to the bridge. His steel prosthetic was covered in oil and soot.
"First aid is done for now. Leon is reconnecting the power reactor and the stabilizer fins. We can't fly right now, but minimum shields and internal power have been restored."
His words meant 'We can barely breathe now', not 'Repairs are finished'.
"Good."
I answered.
"I'll leave the ship repairs to Leon, so Vent, please take the external watch. We need to confirm if this ruin is truly abandoned, or if it's the entrance to the Forgotten Archives."
Vent nodded silently.
He stepped out through the ship's broken hatch, wearing a blaster at his waist and carrying only minimal combat gear.
*
The massive ruin where the Lumina Lip was hiding was submerged in silence.
Massive pillars, unbelievable to be from the pre-Cataclysm era, soared as if piercing the sky, and unpleasant Aether fog crawled between them like snakes.
Vent used the basics of Imperial CQC (Close Quarters Combat) stealth techniques to kill even the sound of his footsteps as he moved toward the entrance of the ruin.
He couldn't rule out the possibility that Caligo's men had chased them this far, or that indigenous lifeforms like the Devourer Lilia mentioned were hiding.
The moment he entered the central plaza of the ruin, Vent froze in place.
What entered his eyes was not an ancient artifact.
It was a small object blinking a faint red light, hidden between moss in a shadowed corner of a collapsed arched entrance.
'Imperial Military Security Sensor.'
Vent's heart sank cold.
This place was not an abandoned ruin. It was a managed territory.
He immediately brought his military steel prosthetic to the sensor.
The wrist split open, and the revealed interface terminal connected to the sensor's panel.
Click.
The hacking tool built into Vent's vision activated, forcibly reading the sensor's security code.
The moment he confirmed that code, Vent froze in place.
A.V. Adrian Valentine.
He immediately stopped the hacking and hid his body.
* * *
Vent's face upon returning to the bridge was wrapped in an icy cold anger, different in texture from the heavy resignation when he confessed his past about Adrian.
Leon returned to the bridge after finishing repairs, grumbling.
"Damn it, Vent! How's the outside? Anything at all..."
"It's a trap."
At Vent's low but steel-like word, the air in the bridge froze.
"Vent?"
I looked at him.
He turned on the hologram map.
"This is... Adrian's code."
Lilia gasped.
Vent pointed at the map and said.
"This is not an official Imperial zone. Adrian Valentine... that bastard has been secretly managing this entire ruin using his special ops fleet Fenrir to get his hands on these 'Forgotten Archives'. This is... his 'Private Hunting Ground'."
We had fled from hyenas only to crash-land in the middle of a lion's den.
"...Private hunting ground, you say?"
Vent's last word, which froze the air in the bridge, brought a heavier despair than Leon's desperate shout.
"No way!"
Leon shouted, tearing at his hair.
"What kind of situation is this! Outside, we don't know when the Chrome Hounds will chase us again, and the ship can't even fly because it's half-destroyed from that hit earlier! But the place we crash-landed is, of all places, that madman Adrian Valentine's backyard?"
Leon's words were not an exaggeration. We were facing the worst-case scenario.
A broken ship. An outlaw group seeking our bounty. And the Empire's elite unit stationed right under our noses.
It was truly a perfect sandwich.
Lilia asked in a trembling voice.
"Vent... why would Adrian be in such an abandoned place...?"
"The Archives."
Vent pointed to the Forgotten Archives floating on the hologram map.
His blue-gray eyes were analyzing the situation coldly.
"What he's aiming for isn't the Arkelos data we're looking for. He has no interest in such ghosts of the past."
He zoomed in on the map, pointing to a place presumed to be the ruin's power section.
"This is where 'Ancient Weapon' technology from before the Cataclysm sleeps. He intends to find it and strengthen his special ops fleet Fenrir."
His cold conjecture deepened the despair inside the bridge.
The Empire's elite fleet armed with ancient weapons. It was a scenario I didn't even want to imagine.
"Then we're... finished."
Leon muttered, collapsing onto the console.
"Waiting for the ship to be fixed and getting caught by Adrian, or trying to run now and getting caught by Caligo... what's the difference!"
It was right at that moment.
"Even better."
At my single phrase, the gazes of the three people submerged in despair all turned to me.
I stood up from the pilot's seat and looked at the hologram map Vent had displayed.
"I said it's even better, Leon. If his target is different from ours, that is."
I connected the two points with my finger: the Ancient Weapon sector Vent pointed out and the Arkelos Data Server Room we needed to find.
"If Vent is right, Adrian is blinded by the ancient weapon. He wouldn't dream that we came to find the truth of Arkelos."
I looked at Vent.
"If only we can divert his attention."
Vent instantly realized my intention. An icy cold smile hung on his lips.
"It is possible, Captain. Because he is pathologically obsessed with me."
I declared to the entire crew.
"Our objectives are two."
"..."
"First, lure Adrian's main fleet far away from here."
"..."
"Second, use that gap to infiltrate the Forgotten Archives and secure the truth of Arkelos."
It was the boldest and most reckless operation to break through a hopeless situation head-on.
Sparks began to fly in Leon's eyes again.
"Good... If it's a chance to properly hit the Imperials in the back of the head, this body can't sit out!"
*
"Good. Then the bait role will be..."
As soon as I brought it up, Vent stepped forward.
"I will do it, Captain."
His voice was cold. All eyes in the bridge turned to him.
"What Adrian is pathologically obsessed with, even before the ancient weapon, is me. Chasing my shadow has been his job and hobby."
Vent activated the hacking tool built into his military prosthetic, not Leon's console.
"Leon, connect the ship's communication antenna to the Imperial network. I need to find his Fenrir fleet's private channel."
"Are you crazy?"
Leon shouted in horror.
"The moment we connect to the Imperial network, our location will be detected within a minute! We're barely holding on hiding in this pile of crumbled ruins right now...!"
"Being detected. That is part of the operation."
At Vent's icy remark, Leon shut his mouth.
Then, Vent's steel prosthetic fingers danced invisibly fast over the hologram keyboard in the air.
Soon, the Imperial firewall sparked and blocked him, but Vent exploited the gaps in the system by reverse-engineering the security patterns of Adrian and the encryption codes from his time in service.
"Found it."
Vent muttered low.
"Adrian Valentine's exclusive... encrypted channel."
He caught his breath for a moment.
Lilia and Leon also watched his fingers with bated breath.
He typed the most fatal sentence of provocation that pierced exactly through Adrian's arrogance and his obsession with Vent himself.
"Still chasing my shadow, Adrian? The 'Real Relic' you wanted so much. It is in my hands now. Catch me if you can."
This message was a fatal double provocation, implying the Lumina Lip itself as the real ancient relic, while simultaneously making Adrian misunderstand that Vent had acquired the ancient weapon he was looking for here first.
Vent pressed the
Silence returned to the bridge.
Now, only the wait remained for the answer: whether the massive lion called Adrian would bite this bait.