Spiral Knights-Equis Command

Spiral HQ Mission Report

Mission Status-GO

Squad-Theta Team

Parameters

-Disable Gremlin thermo-generators powering War Machines

-Determine cause of strange energy levels from secondary facility

===============================

END TRANSMISSION

===============================

Vanguard Knight Corrus sighed and put his comlink back in his pouch, and took out his binoculars. As he surveyed the Gremlin facility at Depth 18 in the Clockworks, his interest continued to be piqued at the speed of the building's Gremlin construction crews. Barely a week ago, this was part of a splinter Aurora Isles stratum, peppered with trees. Now, it was home to oil rigs and Gremlin war machines. Corrus continued to scan the area, and he dropped his Binoculars from his eyes to see Halvir, his squad's Recon Knight, walk up with his Seraphynx Battle Sprite.

"Where's Pellas and Revan?" Corrus asked.

"Establishing a "distraction."" Halvir replied, saying "distraction" with a sarcastic tone.

"By distraction, I take it they're blowing something up?"

"More like blowing something BIG up." Halvir replied.

And as soon as he finished that sentence, a large explosion of thermo-energy erupted from the courtyard, blowing away a large chunk of the wall and sending shrapnel and debris hurtling into the air. Corrus looked over at Halvir, who gave him an expression of "You were saying?"

"I know. Let's move." Corrus said, drawing his Leviathan Blade. As the two knights descended into the camp, they could see the outlines of two other knights battling a horde of Gremlin Constructs. Corrus sighed exasperatedly at the forms of Pellas and Revan, his squad's Medic and Guardian Knight. As the knights cut their way through the horde of Gremlins and Constructs, Halvir and Corrus entered the courtyard. Corrus cut down a Gremlin Mender and made his way towards Pellas, who laughed.

"What were you guys doing? Waiting for an invitation?" Pellas said, slamming his Triglav into a Gremlin Demo, killing it.

"Waiting for your "Distraction."" Corrus replied.

"Anyway, Corrus, the path is clear." Revan said, eliminating the last of the Constructs. Then, the gate leading to the facility opened, and lights came on, illuminating a dark, descending path.

"Team, let's move." Corrus said, leading the way into the strangely deserted facility. As they walked, they occasionally found the remains of Gremlins, and clusters of deactivated Bolt Knights and Retrodes. Lights flickered on and off, and the occasional data port was broken and destroyed.

"I'll tell you guys, when we got this mission, I didn't know it be this...eerie…" Pellas said.

"Yeah. Stay sharp." Corrus said, using the red glow from his Combuster sword as a torch. Then, Corrus held up his hand, and the squad stopped. He then spun around and fired three shots from his Valiance sidearm into the darkness. There was silence, then a loud crash was heard. Corrus illuminated the ground and found the remains of what was obviously a security camera.

"Something's watching us." Halvir said.

"Close quarter weapons, team." Corrus said. As they descended further, they came across a data port, strangely undisturbed.

"Lemme see what I can pull." Pellas said, hacking into the Gremlin database.

"Okay, got what we needed. This facility was apparently declared defunct three days ago, and the only reason it happened was an accident with something called a "Rupture." Which apparently is some kind of new Gremlin toy. Allows long-range teleportation across Cradle."

"They could overwhelm Haven with that kind of tech." Corrus said. "Contact Spiral HQ."

"I tired. Signal's corrupted."

"Swarm?"

"No, it's coming from deeper in the facility." Pellas said.

"Then let's find it and destroy it." Corrus said, walking down the darkened stairs in front of them.. As the team followed, a construct, looking like a cross between a Gun Puppy and a Scuttlebot, painted a dark maroon and silver, appeared from behind a corridor. It barked, and began to follow the knights.

==========================

After ten minutes of walking, the team had found the end of the hallway. A large, sealed iron door blocked the path to the signal's source, placed into a hallway to the left.

"I'll get to work." Halvir said. Taking out his Hacking tools, standard for a Recon Knight, he began to hack the door panel. Then, the lights turned dim, and several reddish-purple dots appeared on the HUD mini-map of each Knight.

"Incoming!" Corrus said, and true to his word, the Scuttle-Puppy constructs were advancing rapidly, and when they were within 10 feet of so from the knights, they sprouted turrets from their midsection, and began to fire. Corrus and his team dove into the two side hallways, occasionally dropping one of the constructs with Handgun shots, braving the incoming fire.

"There's just too many of them!" Corrus said, slicing a Construct with his Combuster. The sword's superheated elemental edge cut through the construct, slicing it in two. As it fell to the ground, two more took its place.

"Okay, door's open!" Halvir said, and utilizing Shield-Charge, they dived into the door hallway. Then, as they entered the door, Halvir hit the panel, causing it to close on the constructs. Halvir then yanked out the wires from the panel, sealing it for good.

"That should slow them down." Halvir said.

"Yeah. Where are we?" Corrus said. Then, lights came on, revealing a large control room, and a throne in the back.

"You made it. I'm impressed."

The Knights looked at the throne, which spun to reveal a Gremlin, clad in armor similar to that of Warmaster Seerus, only his mask had no nose mark, only three red feathers. The Gremlin cackled as he stood up.

"Such audacity, such power. I thought my Sidewinders would finish you off, but I was wrong. But where are my manners? I am Warmaster Drusen of the Crimson Order."

"This was a trap, wasn't it?" Corrus said, leveling his Leviathan Blade.

"Correct. I staged everything to lure Knights to their doom. I wasn't expecting it to be the same Knights who slew Seerus, so I had to improvise." Drusen said.

"Improvise how?" Halvir asked.

"Improvise this." Drusen said, tapping a button on his wristpad. A large circular ring appeared, connected to two large energy tanks. Three thermo-generators were connected to it.

"The rupture, I presume?" Corrus said.

"You are getting on my nerves with your intuition, but yes. Project RUPTURE, allow me to clarify. With this, I can move my troops to anywhere I decide, no matter the location! We can finally conquer the blasted city that you Iron Assassins call home. And, now, it begins." Drusen said, tapping a second button. The energy tanks glowed blue, and a large white vortex appeared, along with walls that boxed the Knights in with the Portal. As the Knights spun around, a massive pulling force began to drag to the Knights closer and closer to the vortex.

"Team, form up! We're going in that thing sooner or later!" Corrus said, and the team let go of their various handholds. As they tumbled into the swirling vortex, Drusen swiftly tapped a third button.

SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE, INITIATED. DETONATION OF CORE REACTOR IN THIRTY SECONDS. THERMO-GENERATOR SAFEGUARD DISABLED. DETONATION IN TWENTY SECONDS. ALL PERSONNEL, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.

Drusen sighed and sat back in his chair, and as soon as he spun around, he sighed.

"Initiate stage two.''

Then, a massive explosion ripped through the facility, destroying the room. Then, a secondary blast shredded whatever survived the first. The detonation collapsed a good amount of the Stratum, and sent shockwaves careening towards other sub-stratums. As the facility collapsed, the only thing left of their Knights, or the Gremlin presence, was a blackened wristpad and a signed feather.

===================

Corrus groaned and stood up. As he blinked his eyes, he saw white flakes come off of his armor.

"Snow." he realized, brushing off the small coating covering him. He groaned and looked around. He was in some kind of ice cavern, and his Mini-map was offline. His equipment was locked, and all connection to Spiral HQ was dead. He took out his knapsack and drew out some driftwood, slime gel, and some blaze pepper. Placing the components in a pile, he touched it with the tip of his sword, and a merry fire began to burn. He sighed and broke out a supply pack. Eating his fill, he stashed the leftovers back in the box and looked outside. What seemed to be a large translucent dome was in the distance, and farther away was a small building, but other than that, there were no visible landmarks for as far as he could see.

"Corrus?"

He turned to see Pellas, Halvir, and Revan walk up, all covered in snow.

"You okay?" Corrus asked.

"Fine and dandy."

"Just fine."

"Alright."

"Good. I noticed some kind of city in the distance, I figure about a half-klick. We set out for there in the morning. RIght now, we get some rest. Stay near the fire so you don't freeze out. Prepare for anything. Our new objective is threefold…"

"Find civilization…"

"Make contact with Spiral HQ…"

And Survive. Am I clear?"

"Yessir!" Came the reply.

"Alright. Let's get some rest. Let's hope the blizzard settles down in the morning." Corrus said, taking a seat by the fire. As the knights slept, the blizzard roared and howled.

================================

Princess Cadance didn't usually stay up this late. But with the onslaught of the blizzard that somehow penetrated the shield, she had her hooves full dealing with it. Shining Armor had already gone to bed, and she had stayed awake to finish working. She sighed and looked at her husband, sound asleep. She smiled and looked back at her papers. Signing her name on a few, she took a sip of some tea and slouched in her chair.

"Just another day as ruler of the Crystal Empire." she said quietly. Then, there was a knock on the door. She opened it to reveal a Crystal Guard, who bowed.

"What is it?"

"A letter from your aunt, Princess."

"Thanks. Dismissed." Cadance said. The guard handed her a sealed scroll, bowed again, and walked off. She opened it and began to read.

Dearest niece,

I have sensed five strange pulses of magic near the Empire. They flared up around one PM, and then settled. I have tracked them to the Ice Caves near the northern border. When the blizzard settles, please find out the cause. I have my hooves full here, so I am afraid I cannot assist. Will you also ask Twilight to come and help out?

Many thanks,

Celestia.

Cadance sighed and wrote a reply.

It's no problem. We'll do it in the morning. Thank's for letting me know, Auntie.

Cadance.

She sent the letter, and slipped into bed.

"What was that about?" Armor said sleepily, wiping his eyes.

"Auntie Celestia just sent me a letter about some magic flares near the Empire. We'll check it out in the morning, Okay?"

"Sure." Armor replied.

"Okay." Cadance said, closing her eyes. As she slept, outside the Empire, back at the camp, the team slept as well. The fire flickered, then went out. The smoke and embers went into the wind, and it swirled through the stormy night.