Luca pressed his fingers into the seam and pulled. The panel resisted at first, then slid aside with a grinding sound that echoed through the chamber. Beneath it, stairs descended into darkness.

He triggered [Pulse Scanner]. The electromagnetic burst painted his visor with wireframe overlays, and there, deeper below, the signal pulsed stronger. A concentrated energy signature calling them down.

"After you," Zoe said, her rifle up.

Luca triggered his helmet lights and started down. The stairs were steep, carved from the same metal and stone as the rest of the facility, but they were clearly older. The walls showed wear that the upper levels didn't have, scratches and scoring that spoke of heavy use over long years.

They descended three levels before the stairs ended at a maintenance corridor. Pipes ran along the ceiling, thick conduits that had once carried power or water or something else through the facility's arteries. Now they were cold and dead.

"This is older construction," Zoe said, running her hand along the wall. "Different style. Look at the joints."

She was right. The upper levels had been seamless, manufactured with precision that made the seams nearly invisible. Down here, the construction was rougher, clearly functional and built to last rather than to impress.

They moved deeper. The maintenance corridor connected to another passage, this one even older. The metal plating was thicker here, reinforced in ways that suggested this section had been built first as the foundation for everything above.

"Zoe, check this out," Luca said, pausing at an archway. Carvings covered the entrance, different from the geometric patterns they'd seen before. They depicted frantic scenes of battle.

Insectoid figures locked in combat with sleek Varnathi warriors. The carvings were detailed, almost frantic. Like whoever had made them needed to record what was happening before it was too late.

Zoe traced the carvings with a gloved hand. "They didn't just fight here. They fell here."

The weight of it pressed down on Luca. This place wasn't just a military base. It was a tomb. The Varnathi had made their stand here, and they'd lost.

Would we be next?

He detected movement in the corridor ahead. Luca's [Combat Predictive Modeling] pinged.

"Contact," he whispered.

Creatures emerged from the shadows. [Spore Lizard - Level 74]. Six of them, their scaled bodies slick with toxic sheen that shimmered in their helmet lights. They weren't as dangerous as the Vexillari patrols outside, but they were persistent.

The first one lunged. Luca's tomahawk came up, catching it mid-leap. The blade carved through scales and bone, dropping it in a spray of green ichor.

Zoe moved beside him, her plasma dagger flashing. She drove it into the throat of another lizard as it tried to flank them. The creature convulsed and died.

"They're not as fierce as the ones in the portal," Zoe muttered, spinning to face the next threat.

"Yeah, but they're persistent," Luca replied. His tomahawk sliced through another lizard's head, the crack of bone echoing off the walls.

Luca spun, his tomahawk burying itself in a lizard's skull as Zoe's dagger flashed past his ear, silencing a second creature that had tried to pounce on his back. They moved in a chaotic but effective rhythm, a blur of instinct and adrenaline. One lizard fell to Luca's blaster, another to Zoe's blade, until the last two charged together. Luca dropped, sweeping the legs out from under one while Zoe vaulted over it, landing with her dagger plunged deep into the other's throat.

Silence returned, filled only by their breathing and the hum of their suits.

"Clear," Zoe said, wiping ichor from her visor.

They kept moving. The signal was close now, maybe fifty meters ahead. The corridor opened into a chamber that made Luca stop.

The central chamber opened before them, vast and dead. Ancient pillars stretched toward a ceiling lost in shadow, their surfaces carved with flowing script, but none of the grandeur mattered next to their objective.

At the chamber's heart sat a generator the size of a house. Its core was dark and lifeless. Intricate machinery surrounding it, and suspended beside it in a transparent containment unit, barely visible in the emergency lighting, was their prize.

The device. Small and pulsing with the faintest blue light.

"There," Luca breathed.

Zoe swept her rifle across the shadows. "Sealed tight. That containment field is maximum security."

No shit. The transparent casing shimmered where their helmet lights hit it. No obvious controls, no handles, nothing. Whatever the Varnathi had locked away here, they'd made damn sure it stayed locked.

"The generator's completely dead." Luca approached the massive machinery, his boots echoing in the stillness. "Whatever powers this place has been offline for a long time."

He triggered [Combat Predictive Modeling]. The ability painted tactical overlays across his visor, highlighting threats and structural weak points. But it also caught something else: a control console, tucked behind one of the pillars.

"Console over here," he called.

The console was ancient but sophisticated, its surface covered with dark screens and interface ports that looked alien as hell. Proximity sensors triggered as he approached. The console flickered to life on auxiliary power, emergency systems responding to his presence.

A single diagram appeared on the central screen. Flowing Varnathi script, but the meaning was clear enough: external power source, connecting to the generator through safety protocols; it was a jump-start procedure.

"Needs power," Luca muttered, studying the display. "But there's a physical port here, and it's sealed."

[Systems Analysis Burst] flooded his consciousness. His perception sharpened, and his processing speed cranked to maximum. The console's systems lit up in his interface, data streams flowing as the ability tore through security protocols layer by layer.

Sealed port requires physical authorization key.

The shape in his interface was unmistakable.

"Son of a bitch." Luca reached into his equipment pouch. The Varnathi Command Key emerged. "Remember this ugly thing from the second portal?"

"I thought you used it already."

"I did, but I guess we can use it again. I just have to insert it... there."

"A keycard slot?" Zoe moved beside him. "After all this time?"

"They wouldn't want some random bug stumbling in here and turning their city into a crater."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The key slid home with a soft chime. The seal retracted with a pneumatic hiss. A new screen materialized, its complex interface covered in Varnathi symbols, power routing diagrams, and safety protocols that made his head hurt.

"Shit." Luca stared at the alien text streaming across the display. "It wants specific commands. Power routing protocols."

Zoe pulled out her TL9 hacking pad, the device humming to life. "This is what we trained for. Let me crack their syntax."

"Can you break it?"

"Not break. Understand." She worked the pad's interface, symbols shifting under her touch. "These patterns are mathematical. Energy flow calculations, safety margins, thermal regulation. I can work with this."

Luca activated [System Bypass], cognitive strain building as his interface overlaid bypass protocols on the console's systems. The ability wasn't magic. More like enhanced intuition for finding exploits in complex systems. Combined with Zoe's hacking expertise, they might actually pull this off.

"Power up sequence." Zoe highlighted symbols on her pad. "This symbol means 'initiate,' this one's 'regulate,' and this one..." She paused, frowning. "Either 'transfer' or 'overload.' Big difference."

"Consequences for guessing wrong?"

"Best case? Nothing happens. Worst case? We fry ourselves and blow up a priceless archaeological site."

"No pressure."

Then the final screen hit him with the real problem. A diagram showed two figures connecting their suits to the console, their power levels dropping to critical. They wouldn't just be powering it up; they'd have to drain their own life support to do it.

"Luca." Zoe's voice was quiet. "If we do this, we're going to be vulnerable. If anything's alive in here..."

He scanned the chamber, shadows that could hide anything, passages leading deeper into the facility. They'd fought through spore lizards and worse to get here. There could be more. Automated defenses waiting for someone to trigger them.

But in his equipment pouch, the puzzle pieces from the portal facility pulsed with urgent need. Danny was dying. Every minute they delayed was another minute their friend slipped away.

"We gotta do it, Zoe, we're running out of time."

"Power coupling ready." Zoe connected the transfer cables from their suits to the console. "On your mark."

"Transfer protocols initialized." Luca's interface showed the bypass routes he'd programmed. "This is either going to work brilliantly or kill us both."

"Optimist," Zoe muttered.

"Execute."

Their HUDs flickered as energy reserves plummeted, shields going offline and weapons dropping to emergency reserves until their helmet lights dimmed to barely a glow.

The console blazed to life.

And with it, the generator.

The ancient machinery groaned, rumbled, then roared. Different components began to glow, faint at first, then with increasing brilliance. Power flowed through conduits dead for millennia, spreading outward from the central chamber. A massive heart beating again.

Lights flickered on throughout the chamber as it transformed around them, revealing murals that covered the walls. Scenes of interstellar travel and technological marvels. He realized the pillars were data storage columns, not decorative structures, and each one pulsed with information.

The containment unit deactivated with a soft pneumatic hiss.

"Holy shit," Zoe breathed. "It worked."

The transparent field flickered and died. Inside, the device sat waiting, blue light welcoming them.

[Item Acquired: Encrypted Coordinates Key - Alpha Centauri System]

In that instant, the chamber's ancient heart began to beat again.

The generator's hum intensified. Power surged through conduits that had been dead for millennia. Lights flickered out in the corridors. One at a time, spreading outward from the chamber like a wave of awakening.

The facility was coming back to life.

"Luca!" Zoe pulled the device free, but the power kept flowing. "What the hell did I just activate?"

Luca's visor pinged. Environmental readings shifting. The toxic atmosphere was being filtered, scrubbed clean by systems that hadn't functioned in thousands of years. His readout showed breathable air. Oxygen and nitrogen mix. Perfect for human lungs, Varnathi too, if the previous delves had been any indication.

"The facility," Luca breathed. "It's waking up."

More lights turned on as panels on the walls glowed with information in symbols they couldn't read.

"We need to go," Zoe said, pocketing the device. "Now."

But Luca couldn't move. He stared at the generator, at the lights spreading through the facility, at the impossible resurrection happening around them. The Varnathi had built something that could survive tens of thousands of years and wake up at a touch.

What the hell was this place?

Zoe grabbed his hand, her fingers lacing through his. The touch snapped him back to reality. "Luca. We go. Now."

He nodded, and they ran.

[System Company Achievement] Varnathi Ruins Discovery Triumph Initiative Company Recognition Upgrade Unlocked Discovery Bonus: +150,000,000 credits awarded to Triumph Initiative

Relic Facility Mastery: First crew to restore power to an ancient Varnathi installation

Reward Package: [Item Acquired: Life Support Systems Schematic (TL9)] [Item Acquired: Inertial Dampening Field Schematic (TL9)] [Item Acquired: Sensor Array & Targeting Suite Schematic (TL9)]

As the message faded from Luca's interface, another message popped up. A Triumph Initiative Company objective.

[Objective Uncovered: Echoes of the Varnathi] The reactivated facility holds secrets of an ancient civilization. Explore its depths, document its technology, and establish a claim before others arrive. Primary Tasks:

Map the facility's critical systems (0/8 sectors documented)

Restore power to primary command centers (1/7 completed)

Secure Varnathi technological archives (0/10 completed)

Establish territorial claim tower (0/1 completed)

Contribution Reward: 2,500,000 CP

He cursed under his breath.

The Percival plunged through Midnight Veil's toxic clouds, its hull smoking as it burned through the atmosphere. The autopilot brought it down steady despite the corrosive atmosphere eating at every surface. Emily watched in horror from the Centurion's viewport, her hands clenched.

"Come on," she muttered. "Just a little further."

The dropship touched down fifty meters from the Centurion, its landing gear groaning under the strain. Black smoke billowed from its engines, mixing with the toxic air.

"Shield up!" Luca ordered over comms. He was already outside, his scout armor's seals protesting the corrosive atmosphere.

The Centurion's shield dome expanded, brilliant blue energy forming a protective bubble that encompassed both vehicles. The dropship sat inside it, still smoking but protected from the worst of the atmosphere.

"Move!" Ryan shouted, grabbing containers of the acid-wax ooze they had gathered. "We've got to cover the Percival before it takes more damage!"

They worked in a hurry, with Luca and Ryan on the starboard side, slathering the dropship's hull with the protective ooze. Emily and Zoe on port. Chris, still recovering but refusing to sit idle, worked the nose section. Joey stayed inside, monitoring Danny's vitals.

The ooze was thick and sticky, coating everything it touched. It formed a waxy layer, their only defense against the atmosphere's corrosion, for a while.

"How long will this hold?" Emily asked, spreading another layer across the wing.

"Thirty minutes," Ryan said. "Maybe forty if we're lucky."

"Move!"

They finished the coating with minutes to spare. The dropship was coated in a shimmering, yellow-green slime that formed a protective layer over its hull.

"Everyone aboard!" Luca ordered. "Now!"

They scrambled into the Centurion, securing it inside the Percival's cargo bay. Joey sealed Danny's healing pod to the deck, triple-checking the connections. Chris strapped into a seat, his face pale but determined. Emily, Ryan, Zoe, and Luca took their positions.

"Autopilot engaged," Zoe announced. "Initiating ascent sequence."

The dropship's engines roared to life. The whole craft shuddered, protesting the demand. But it lifted. Slowly at first, then faster as the thrusters compensated for the toxic atmosphere's drag.

The Centurion's shield stayed with them, a blue bubble protecting the Percival as it climbed through Midnight Veil's hellish sky.

Luca watched through the cockpit viewport. The ground fell away. The storm raged around them, buffeting the dropship.

"Structural integrity is critical!" Ryan was monitoring the systems. "Hull breaches detected!"

"Just get us to orbit," Luca said through gritted teeth.

The Percival groaned. Metal screamed as atmospheric pressure fought against its climb. One of the engines stuttered, black smoke pouring from damaged components.

"Come on," Ryan muttered, his foot tapping anxiously. "Just a little further."

"Think we'll miss this place?" Zoe asked, her voice laced with sarcasm.

Ryan let out a dry, brittle chuckle that held no humor. "Miss the never-ending toxic storms and giant bugs? Yeah, sure. Can't wait to come back."

Except we'll have to come back, and we'll be ready.

Chris managed a tired laugh from his seat.

"Heads up," Emily said, her eyes on the readouts. "We're getting critical warnings from the Percival's systems. Hull integrity at fifteen percent."

"Grab onto something!" Luca shouted.

The Percival lurched. One of the engines failed completely, its housing tearing away in a shower of sparks. The dropship spun, its remaining thrusters fighting to compensate.

Then they broke through the atmosphere.

The toxic haze gave way to the silence of space. Stars appeared in the viewport, brilliant and cold. The atmosphere's grip released them, and the Percival stabilized.

"We're clear," Emily breathed. "We made it."

Luca's breath escaped in a long hiss as he sank into his seat, the tension finally draining from his shoulders. He heard Ryan let out a shaky laugh, the sound echoing the exhaustion they all felt. They were off Midnight Veil. They were alive.

Joey was already checking on the healing pod. "Danny's stable. Vitals holding. We need to dock with the Triumph. Now."

"Setting course," Zoe said, inputting coordinates. The Triumph of Darron waited in high orbit, its medical bay ready with Joey's surgical suite. The equipment that could save Danny's life.

Through the viewport, the Triumph grew larger, representing home, safety, and their only chance to save their friend.

The Percival limped toward it, trailing debris and barely holding together.

But they'd made it. Against impossible odds, they'd made it.

Home.

And in Luca's pocket, the Varnathi device pulsed with its mysterious coordinates, promising answers to questions they hadn't known to ask.

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