Artemis remained asleep as Oni looked out the open door of the Scout helo, the UH-185 was a fast aircraft, so the distance from the training area to home base was pretty short for it, it didn't take Oni long to spot the outermost defenses, and of course, "The Earthen guard" as it was called.


Alpha Centarius was one of the biggest and most important bases of the NSCR, having existed for over a century already, you'd never think it was over a hundred years old by just how advanced it was.


Stretching over a dozen miles long easily, it also housed an extensive underground tunnel system where much of the action took place, buildings ranging from small barracks and dorms, to massive towers at least a dozen stories tall.


Of course at it's center, was the main headquarters dubbed "The citadel", a truly massive fortification that served as the bases Nerve center, airfields, runways, supply centers, repair stations, basically every form of military installation you could think of.

 What gave the base it's nearly unbreakable defenses, was a mix of things.

Not only did it hold thousands of NSCR warriors and hundreds of nearly every type of NSCR vehicle, but it had hundreds of anti-aircraft turrets, artillery turrets, and so forth littered every which direction, though they were insignificant to the ring of colossal turrets located in a circle around the Citadel.

Named the Cerberus gun system, these turrets fired beams of pure anti-matter and void magic, capable of destroying even godly beings with a direct hit, no one knew how even the NSCR had managed to construct them, and Fotus admitted that he couldn't share, but Oni didn't care to much about that, she was just glad they were the only one's with this tech, rather then some far more warlike nations who'd use it at every interval.

But it's primary form of defense was the fact that Alpha Centarius was situated on a massive hill that was basically a mountain top, lifting the actual base hundreds of feet into the air where it nearly reached some low-lying clouds, this alone was a deterrent to a lot of would-be attackers. 

As Bugger 3-5 lifted into the air several more feet, a large door opened out of the side of the rock and the pilot carefully guided the aircraft into the cliff-side hanger, with Oni spotting activity all along the bay, with a small number of troops off in the distance at a firing range, firing accurate shots from their assault rifles and one was using a sniper rifle..also why was he spinning before each shot?


Oni sighed and shrugged as she watched a trio of M850 White Lion main battle tanks roll down a artificial road and vanish into another tunnel, probably heading to one of the firing ranges for the ground vehicles nearby.


"And just like that folks..home sweet home" said the pilot as he began to land the helicopter.


The helicopter touched down gently as Oni shook Artemis's shoulder, waking her up as she shook her head and glanced out the open door as the pilot powered down the machine's engines.

Getting out of the passenger area with a yawn and a stretch, Artemis looked upwards as a trio of NSCR gunships flew overhead, a simple patrol flight Artemis concluded as the three attack helicopters exited through the same door that they had just entered before it closed with a soft and distant "thud".


The two then made their way into one of the central towers of the subterranean complex nodding to a few individuals who gave them waves or nods of greeting.

"seems lively in here" commented Artemis lightly as she watched a crew of engineers working on a M800B Endshot artillery vehicle, a driver was operating the switch for it's lockdown and mobile forms, though something seemed to be wrong with one of its legs, preventing it from locking down fully.

Oni nodded, though it wasn't any real difference then any other day, she had to admit it was a bit rowdy in this hanger.

Approaching an elevator at the end of a Sphere-shaped wrong, Oni spied two NSCR soldiers standing on guard in front of the elevator door, she figured that they knew the two of them were approaching before they even got close, but as they did the one to their right held up his arm in a stopping gesture.

 "-hold for identification" he said with a bit of a sheepish shrug.

Oni waved him off calmly, she knew they were only doing their task, and there were over a dozen species of creatures on Chaknaka that could shape-shift into others and mimic them perfectly, though there was always flaws in the disguise.

Oni nodded as the trooper activated a scanner on his helmets visor, sending a beam of blue light over both Oni and Artemis with a very faint hum, before beeping a light tone and the man nodded to the one beside him who stepped forward and held out a hand.

This man was a telepath, and was able to read the minds and memories of those around him.

Magic wasn't some closely guarded secret on Chaknaka, it was common knowledge, even the common folk had access to most forms of magic, so generally on Chaknaka someone using magic was the same as using a phone or another device to talk to people, a Telepath was a lot more rare and uncommonly found then say a fire or ice user, but their abilities were a tad bit more volatile.

Very faint energy waves extended from the palm of his hand and covered Oni's and Artemis's mind for a few seconds, feeling a bit of pressure behind their eye's as he retracted his hand.

"yeah their clear..we knew that already, but y'know-orders are orders" he said with a sigh.

Oni chuckled and replied easily.

"Oh don't worry, we know he has his reasons" 

The two men nodded in response as the two women started to make their way into the elevator when Artemis stopped.

"you know I've always wondered..with those scanners..are they basically x-ray glasses?" she asked with a cheeky grin.

Before any of the nearby guards could respond, Oni had placed a hand on top of her head and mused.

"get your ass in the elevator"

Ignoring the laugh that came from Artemis, the door closed quietly and the platform began to rise quickly through the levels, though thanks to anti-gravity magic the speed didn't impact the two at all.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So really all in all it only took them five minutes to travel several dozen floors, as the elevator slowed and came to a halt, the doors opening with a slight hiss, the two came face to face with another warlord.

Standing at roughly seven feet tall and clad in silver armor was Peacemaker.

Peacemaker was a former knight of a now destroyed nation named the Iron fist, and one of the few members of that nation to become a warlord of Fotus, as such the two go way back and had a strong brother in-arms style bond, Peacemaker's real name and identity is unknown, simply being known as "Peacemaker", he joined the Iron fist for a united nation and potentially a united Chaknaka, he become sick of the nation he once had pride in when they began to target innocent populations and forced labor on even children, he readily joined Fotus's rebellion- as he himself was once a member of the Iron fists.

So some considered Peacemaker a founding member of the NSCR, as Fotus had taken the remains of the Iron Fists and remolded it into the NSCR, but that was a story for another time.

Peacemaker was a staunch and steadfast ally of Fotus, and was resolute in his defense and resilience in the face of war.

The two walked out as the aforementioned knight turned his armored head and spotted the two fellow warlords and offered them a greeting.

"ah, great to see you two again, heard you had a training exercise today, I do hope that went well for you two in his blasted heat" he said casually.


Oni and Artemis nodded.

"yep!, the heat was annoying but it went well, we got to let some stress out of each other and Oni here tried to impale me with wood!" replied Artemis.

Oni sighed and closed her eyes "guilty as charged" was all she said in response.

Peacemaker simply laughed and nodded.

"good, good, Fotus is here by the way, he's just in the console room talking with Alina and Sandman, apparently they got a task for some of us" he replied. 

Oni raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded

"got any idea on what it could be?" she asked

"not sure myself, but it sounds like it involves another nation" he replied simply.

Oni thought for a moment, and then shrugged-that didn't help much, there were hundreds of nations on Chaknaka after all.

"alright, let's go see what this is all about" she replied after a moment as Artemis nodded and followed her friend.

The door slid open easily with a soft hiss as the two walked in and spied just the group that they were looking for.

Sandman is an assault commander who was known for his specialty in desert warfare-hence his name "sandman", his uniform was vastly different then the suits worn by most NSCR troopers, being far more thin and lighter, and often wearing a mix of a helmet and cloth to cover his face in case of a sandstorm, he himself led a four man team called the Desert Foxes, normally they were always seen together with his three other members, Jackal the teams sniper, Thunder the teams anti-armor and explosive specialist, and Stormer, the teams heavy machine gunner.

Sandman was normally pretty easy to get along with, as with most other warlords, had a strange habit of always being fully suited up for no reason.

Alina was a very special figure within the NSCR ranks, created by some now destroyed cult alongside her sister Avora, she never talks much about her past, but most knew the story anyway.

Regardless, Alina and Avora were extremely powerful warriors in their own right, and nearly considered warlords themselves, two members of the famous fireteam Wendigo, one of the most skilled and powerful fireteams out of the entire NSCR.

What also wasn't exactly a secret was Alina's..attachment to Fotus, Alina had a very strong and special bond with Fotus, he gave her and her sister among many others a second chance at life, and to Alina that was a debt that she'd never be able to pay back in full, except for basically being his body guard. 

Alina had her armor on, but her helmet was missing as she was listening to the star of the show in between the two of them.

Standing at roughly 6.7 feet tall himself, and clad in armor that was a mix of dark orange and black, he at first seemed like a tall-but somewhat unassuming individual, but most who knew him knew just what he could do in an active warzone- was Fotus himself.

Fotus is almost never seen without his armor, ever.

His armor is a unique set of armor that was crafted by an unknown maker thousands of years ago, known only as the "Armor of Agarek", no-one knew what "Agarek" meant, but it also garnered the name of the Eternal armor, as it has never once been broken by an enemy attack, and remained in nearly perfect condition for centuries.

While not a AI powered suit, it seemed to have a mind of its own at times, it could melt into Fotus's skin to allow him to appear as a normal human..even though he wasn't a normal human to begin with.

Fotus is what's known as a "Prime Human", eons ago when the gods first made their world and filled it with life, they also created various versions of some species that didn't exist anywhere else, such as the Prime Humans.

The gods had made humans that had elongated limbs and vastly superior night sight, some with the ability to change their skin color and physical appearances including height, some that had immense strength and physical durability, and so on.

The Prime humans are a special case.

Prime Humans were initially created to serve as godly warriors, but the Chaknakian god of foresight , wisdom and knowledge "Reden" foresaw this inevitably causing the prime humans to revolt, leading to unmatched chaos everywhere if they were all born into forced servitude, as such the gods decided that when each prime human born reached the age of maturity, they'd receive a dream that would give them a choice, become an immortal warrior but be tied to a god, or remain mortal but keep the ability to choose, so basically it was a power vs freedom deal.

Needless to say Fotus chose the second option.

Prime humans are extremely rare, with there being believed to only be about a thousand ever created, however the abilities of a prime human more then compensated for it.

Prime humans were vastly superior to the rest of the human species by a massive margin, the comparison between a Prime human and a normal human, could be held in the same energy as an adult and a toddler being compared to each another.

Currently speaking, he was one of the few Prime humans confirmed to still be around.

The trio were talking quietly when Oni and Artemis approached them.

"you called?" asked Oni.

Sandman and Alina gave nods of greeting, whilst Fotus gave a greeting of his own.

"Why yes I did, I've received word of an artifact that's recently been discovered" he said.

Artemis tilted her head "pardon me sir, but what's so important about this one artifact?" she asked curiously.

Now there were a couple of nations on Chaknaka, that asking such questions to the kingdom leaders would get her killed or flogged for it.

Fotus simply nodded casually.

"Because it's one that we've and so many other's have been looking for, for years-the Timelord's manifest" he stated.

Sandman and Alina had already been told this, so they didn't react much aside from nodding in agreement, But Oni and Artemis felt their eye's widen in shock.

The Timelord's manifest was the personal journal and log of one of the seven first kings, due to his affinity for time and fate, the book was stated to contain messages, secrets and warnings over everything that would transpire the world of Chaknaka, of course in often very cryptic and hard to read ways.

Scientists, researchers, mercenaries, bounty hunters, treasure hunters, even leaders of entire kingdoms spent their lives searching for this legendary tome, as well-it's said that it'd basically grant the finder the ability to see into the past, present and the future.

"Have we gotten proof that it's been found?" asked Oni her eye's a tad bit wide.

Fotus nodded and brought up an imagine, a blurry one at that, but an imagine nonetheless.

It showed two men, sitting on a small makeshift bench hunched over a large thick object that upon closer inspection-clearly had the shape and size of a large book.

"well I'll be.." Artemis breathed out, the noticed something.

"sir is it just me, or do those shadows not match their surroundings?" asked Artemis as her eye's narrowed.

"I had Raven check to see if she could detect energy from it, and she said that the feedback nearly gave her a stroke, I verified it with Soulblade, he didn't have the same result, but he stated that there was something with them, some kind of creature either guarding or living within the tunnels, what yet to be exact-we don't know" replied Fotus.

"hmmm..was this just a random find or a dedicated expedition?" asked Oni.

This time it was Sandman who responded.

"A mix of both really, not many have investigated this area-which is named the unknown rocks, so they thought they'd get lucky finding whatever they could-needless to say they did, this photo was taken one hour ago from one of Fotus's contacts in the group, we haven't heard nothing else from them since" he said.

Oni nodded "which is why you've called us, you want us to check up on them per-se?" she asked Fotus.

Fotus nodded.

"That, but also I'd be lying if I said I didn't wanna take a peek at it myself, this contact and I don't go back very far, but they are known to constantly update their progress every half hour, and as it's been over an hour, with no word from anyone-needless to say that's peaked my curiosity" he replied evenly.

Oni nodded "very well, what are we looking at for situation-wise?" she asked

"Tight corners and dimly lit area's and an unknown adversary lurking in the shadows, I requested you and Artemis due to Artemis's natural senses and agility, plus she doesn't wear cool looking-but bulky armor, and if the enemy is demon is origin Oni will be naturally equipped to fight it, Sandman, Nova and Scanner will also be joining you, once you reach the target zone, Earthape and Jaggedjaw will be there to meet you incase you need some heavier then anticipated activity" replied Fotus.

"The overall objective is simply to investigate the whereabouts of the crew and the expedition, but if something has happened to the group then if possible I need you to secure the book, there's legends of a guardian who protects the tome, it may not of taken a liking to someone removing it just like that-if there's a guardian to begin with, the Timelord was the most enigmatic of the seven kings, so it's always a guessing game with him." he added afterwards.

Oni nodded.

"And how we getting there?" she asked

"An SDS 30 codenamed Tomb breaker will be providing transport and possibly air support if needed, we will have a recon force in the area consisting of several desert buggies named Rat-group, along with one M1113 Recon and one MXA4 Lion tank along with them, we may have more in the are but we'll need to make another scan, so you should be fine, just let us know right away if something goes wrong, and what the status of the group as well as the book is." he replied.

Oni and Artemis nodded with Artemis asking as she put a hand on her hip.

"And when do we leave?" she asked

Fotus's face wasn't able to be seen from behind his helmet, but his very air held slight amusement as he stated simply.

"Right now."