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Magnum, Marouge and Porralla are aboard the Howl of Silver as when Magnum returned to the ship, Elvo had said she may have found a way to open the box, the mystic had contacted the vixen and weasel and they were over in flash. Elvo informs them of the hammer and how it has the same symbols as the box as well as the energy the weapon was producing...

Magnum says "If the weapon doesn't have a power source, how could Wejo have used it?" as he crosses his arms.

Elvo says "Based on the scan I have run, the hammer seems to have a reservoir system of some description that captured some of the energy your body was releasing when close in proximity."

The vixen and weasel glance at each other and Marouge says "So, the hammer is a mystic weapon?"

The coyote nods "Correct, that means the chest was more then likely created by them as well. However the hammer wasn't recovered on this world, according to the logs it was recovered on Prexis from a powerful cult that the Metal Howlers destroyed."

The mystic says "Prexis? That's a two week trip at maximum jump.", he looks at the hammer and he says "Could this thing be the key to the chest?"

Elvo says "It is possible."

The mystic opens the case, he picks up the hammer with both hands and the group heads to where the chest is, Magnum looks to the hammer, he begins concentrate, trying to activate the hammer. The weapon comes to life as the symbols glow a powerful blue and a soft, harmonic tone radiates off of it, the mystic slowly approaches the front of the chest, he gently puts the head of the hammer against it... and nothing happens.

Magnum sighs "A lot of good that did."

Elvo says "Hmm, maybe the chest reacts in a different way..."

Porralla gets an idea "Maybe... take a whack at it?" with a shrug.

Marouge simply raises her hands as if saying 'I have no idea', Magnum pulls the hammer back, he takes a deep breath as he aims and gives the hammer a pretty good overhead swing. The jewels on the chest ignite in a blinding white, creating a powerful energy shield which matches the hammers power and sends Magnum flying back, losing his grip on the weapon which clatters onto the floor.

The mystic groans "A lot of good that did." as he grabs his head.

Porralla gently grabs the wolf and helps him up with worry in her features "Are you okay?"

Magnum says "I'll be fine, I haven't felt that since I tested the falcon suit." as he tries to regain his footing.

Elvo says "I'm sorry, I guess they weren't connected after all." with a sigh and earning quite a glance from the mystic.

The vixen says "But this is the first functional mystic weapon ever recovered, all the others were either shattered or reduced to dust."

Magnum thinks for a few moments, he begins to go through some stuff in his mind "Elvo, I think it's time we start to compile those charts and the stuff taken from the mystic tombs."

Elvo nods and an alarm begins to blare, Magnum quickly hops into his chair as Elvo brings up some sensor logs.

Magnum says "Elvo, what's going on?"

The coyote says "A massive asteroid is inbound, estimated time to impact is one hour given it's current speed and it's size is roughly 2500 kilometers across!"

Magnum says "There's no way we can evacuate the station in time... prep the buster rifle, it's time for a field test!" earning everyone's attention.

Elvo says "We haven't worked out all of the weapons faults though!" in protest.

The mystic quickly gets up "This is not open to discussion, if I try to use my beam in the void I'll suffocate and if I fire inside the colony I'll end up depressurizing the entire structure if things go wrong."

Marouge says "Is there anything we can do?!" as Porralla stands in attention.

Magnum says "Work with Elvo, she knows what to do."

The mystic runs to the launch pad as the fox and weasel take a couple of stations on the bridge, the mystic soon launches with the buster rifle equipped, the circular ports tapping into the twin plasma weapon system as his right hand has a firm grasp on the side handle.

Elvo's voice comes through "Synchronizing telemetry data, uploading buster rifle interface and tracer system. Transition complete, no errors detected, re-routing stabilizers and adapting power relays based on simulation data."

Magnum looks over the interface "Setting compression ratio to 80%, increasing rail conduction by 10% and increasing gyro-stabilizer output by 7%.", he aims the buster rifle and readies the interface "Buster rifle, armed and ready to fire."

The coyote responds "You only have one shot."

The population of the station watches the entire ordeal from inside, seeing the asteroid heading towards them as the armored mystic takes aim with his prototype weapon. The priest earlier gathering people in prayer as he delivers a sacrament, the people of the station hoping the mystic would succeed in protecting them from harm. Magnum eyes the distance reader as the buster rifle gains a lock on the interstellar object, the weapon is armed and ready to unleash it's power... all the mystic has to do now is pull the trigger. The mystic takes a breath, months of research and development about to either be justified and proven or wrong and disastrous, this weapons needs to work... it has to work.

The mystic says "Firing buster rifle... NOW!"

Magnum pulls the trigger, for a moment blue energy consumes the lining of the rail as electricity zaps, the blue turns to white as a hum can be heard, the weapon fires, it's light cutting through the darkness of space, the beam smashes into the asteroid dead center, dust begins to explode from inside the rock. The ladies on the Howl of Silver join in watching the sight with the colonists, the weasel praying for Magnum to succeed in this, Elvo readies herself in case she needs to assist the mystic and the vixen stares in awe at the sheer power output, she had seen such weapons on siege battleships and large weapon installations, nothing like this on anything smaller.

A warning blares on the mystics hud, the suits power system was having hard time keeping up, he quickly has the suit disengage the power systems safeties as the stabilizers begin to struggle, the backpack trying to keep pace with the heat exchange, sparks begin to come from the rifle itself, a flame momentarily bursts from the left side, the buster rifle system flashes error sighs as it's stabilizer begins to fail.

Magnum yells "COME ON! MERCURY! GIVE THIS THING EVERY BIT OF POWER YOU HAVE!!!"

On that, the suit shuts down it's stabilizer and regulator systems, the anti-matter flows freely as an eruption of energy flies out of the buster rifle, this wave smashes into the asteroid causing flames to bust through as pressure waves rip through the solid rock. Finally the suit has had enough as the rifle fries itself in heat death, the emergency shut down of the mercury kicks in and the suit goes dark, the released energy forces the mystic to fly towards the station due to the intense recoil produced by the weapon, the last of the energy makes it to the asteroid and the planitoid explodes, reduced to harmless dust and debris. The mystic laughs in victory, the weapon while it did destroy itself had done what it was suppose to do, a partial success but a success none the less. Magnum feels something grab onto him and he feels the mercury rock a little, he looks and sees a machine holding the mercury, it looks like a suit of power armor but it isn't, most of the machine in teal with some purple panels, blue eye panels, a small booster on the side of each foot as a maneuver pack is mounted on the back pack, it's shoulder pads are angular and in a holster on it's left is a beam submachine gun, this machine is the Gypse, Elvo's battle automata.

The colony cheers at the sight, the mystic had saved them, Marouge and Porralla join in the celebration as what's left of the asteroid fades away. For Elvo however, while she is happy that the colony was saved and many people were spared, but the look of concern on her face was unmistakable, seeing the data in real time anything could have happened, the mercury could have easily exploded at any time or the power system could have shorted itself out. But now they have what Magnum really needed, actual data to really improve the buster rifle but it was just proven that the mercury was incapable of handling the weapon system to any real degree, her mind goes to the two other prototypes as one word hits her... Albion.

Elvo brings the mystic back to the Howl of Silver, connecting a power source to the suit so that Magnum can disengage the suit and get out. The ladies only had to glance at him to see the energy in his eyes, he was more then ready to examine the data and improve on the buster rifle and the other prototypes as a whole, a thousand ideas flood his mind on how to improve the design work. The colonists flood the comm systems of the Howl of Silver with thanks you and praises, though the more religious people sounding their divine worship onto him makes his eyes roll, to show their gratitude the colony gives the mystic some very rare metals in a decent quantity and for their assistance they give Marouge and Porralla 13 million credits each and some shares in some very well established mining companies... despite them only monitoring the situation for the most part, but they weren't going to complain as they still needed to do maintenance for their ships and everything else.

.......................................

The grey fox stands in the shadows, a vicious scowl making up her features as she eyes a screen replaying the buster rifle destroying the massive asteroid, she heads to a nearby terminal, she patches through "The plan failed, the asteroid was destroyed by Magnum... that blasted wolf has been busy, he now has a weapon that has the power output of his beam and he can fit it to his suits! How are we suppose to counter that?!"

A voice on the other end responds "This does throw a wrench in the plan to a degree, but we can still proceed with the operation, we'll just have to approach with more caution." and it's heavily distorted.

The vixen growls "We needed this colony to fall to do what needed to be done, I got you the codes from the pervs that run this station, the least you can do is execute something competently! What am I suppose to do now?"

The voice says "Have you been detected yet?"

The vixen says "No." as she taps a hidden necklace with her finger "The charm is blocking Magnum's senses, he doesn't know that I have returned."

The voice says "Then maybe we need to improvise, can you infiltrate Magnum's ship?"

She scoffs "Not only no, but heck no! The machines on his ship will rip me to shreds as soon as they see me, but his associates have a fleet, maybe I can get on board one of their ships."

The voice says "Don't infiltrate the flagship, their captain has a keen eye for trouble makers, but one of her lackey captains may be a little more laxed." which earns quite a sinister smile from the grey vixen.

The fox finishes her call and begins to wander around the station, looking for one of Marouge's subornate captains, she eventually sees one of them at bar, celebrating the fact he his crew aren't dead, she approaches him in the same way she approached all of her targets, just enough strut to get some attention and enough eye to hold a conversation, she takes a seat next to him and she says "Aye captain, what are ya celebrating?!"

The captain looks to her "Being alive young lady." his smile being a little flirty "Thanks to our mystic friend we're alive and so is this station. But any way, where are my manners? I am captain Len Voss of the ship Void Clipper."

The vixen says "I'm Nara Gurov, one of the stations many entrepreneurs." her features becoming sly with a hint of seductiveness.

Len looks her over "Lass, I know the kind of entrepreneur you are, I've been around the block a few times, no need to give a fancy ring to your profession. How much?" with a raised eyebrow towards the end.

Nara quickly forms a plan "About that, you see I want off of this station and to see the stars a little closer. Care to take a gal with you? Some comfort for your voyages?" as she gently wraps her arms around his neck.

The captain becomes transfixed by her eyes "I don't know... normally I have to report to Marouge about any changes in people being aboard my ship and she has quite a keen eye."

Nara says "Ah come on, you don't have to report everything to her... do you?" as she gently brings her face closer to his.

The captain quickly loses his focus "N-No, I suppose not. I guess it won't hurt if I let this little change slip, but if she catches you, I don't know you and you are a stowaway."

The grey fox gives a soft nod as she thinks 'Thanks for giving me just what I was looking for you fool!' and she says "I just have to grab my stuff real quick and I'll meet you at your ship."

..........................................................................

Magnum, Elvo, Marouge and Porralla are looking at the various star maps and the stellar maps laid out by the crypts of the mystics that they had recovered, the star maps aren't much help and the stuff from the crypts is still unreadable.

Porralla says "What are we looking for exactly?" as her eyes try to see anything of interest."

Magnum says "I'm not entirely sure.", he sighs "Elvo, from what you can tell are there any similarities or anything of note?"

Elvo shakes her head "So far I haven't found anything major."

Marouge circles around "There must be something we're missing."

Magnum begins to think, there had to be a way to get something out of this and then it hits him, he says "Elvo, when it comes to that crater on that planet, line it up with these charts and see what we get. Maybe we'll find something out that way."

The digital coyote says "Affirmative." with a nod.

Taking the planet into account, Elvo lines the crater with the maps, most don't yield any results but a few do create something interesting as it creates a path almost like a shooting star, covering light years worth of distance as a few of the star charts have to be linked to create a solid map.

The mystic says "That was just a blind guess." as he steps towards the map.

Elvo says "Whatever hit that planet came from the uncharted region known as the Reaper Sector, no ship has ever come out of there."

The vixen says "And no ship has gone in there as long as we can remember, even the knight orders don't go there and pirates and criminals avoid it at all costs."

Magnum says "Elvo, can you link this with any of the information from the mystic tombs?" with a raised eyebrow.

Elvo responds with "It does line up with one, from the youngest tomb excavated that is dated to be around 14 million years old.", she looks to Magnum "We need to find someone who can translate the mystic language, until then we are still in the dark."

Porralla sighs "But it's a dead language, no one speaks or reads it."

The mystic says "That we know of...", he looks to Elvo and he says "I don't care how you do it Elvo, but we need to find someone who can read mystic and understand it. Cross reference anything relating to the mystics and the people who study them no matter how small."

The coyote gives a cleaver smirk "Way ahead of you Magnum, I've been looking through various files and I've narrowed it down to someone who claims to know the mystic language by heart, she's a little stuck up based on news reports but I'm sure she'll assist us."

A dossier appears on the screen, the name simply reads Za'vara, a red fox and her appearance is stunning, her eyes are a radiant gold, gold eyelids, gold stripes going along her cheeks between the white and orange-red fur, hair being the color of silver and down to her waist, her hands being gold rather then black and wearing a scientist outfit.

Magnum says "We need to plot a course as soon as possible.", he looks to Marouge and he says "I can pay you if you wish to join me."

The vixen says "Given the situation, we'll join you regardless, this is turning into quite a puzzle and we wish to help you see it through.", she crosses her arms "Besides we'll go crazy wondering how this goes."

................................

On board the Everglaive flagship, Master Koress and his honor guard are seeing the footage taken of Magnum's buster rifle destroying the massive asteroid, the sheer technological capability of the weapon has their attention, it's clear that the mystic has been busy behind closed doors. Koress looks to Derra who's kneeling in front of him, the lancer having been the one to inform the Master.

The equine says "This weapon that our freeblade has created is quite a formidable one indeed.", he looks to a nearby engineer "Is a weapon like this possible?"

The engineer says "With our current technology it is impossible, this weapon was handheld by the power armor itself. If we were to try to make this weapon it would have to be a heavy weapon used by two or three knights, one carrying the power source, one aiming and one firing and function more like a large beam cannon than a rifle of any description. Even then, it wouldn't be able to have the same power output or damage potential, not by a long shot but could destroy a heavy tank in one shot. The power output is more comparable to a high grade siege laser from a dreadnought sized vessel or even a battle-station." as he looks over the footage himself.

Koress takes this news in, he knew that Magnum was always innovating and engineering and it was no secret that the mercury was far more advanced then their most advanced equipment. Beam-based weapons are nothing new as they range in size, function and power and up until now they all made sense with all three, every interstellar power dreamed of having such a weapon on their standard troops and that had been the case. But the Master knew how the mystic operated, there was no question that this was a prototype and that the mystic would soon be working on refining it, it made sense as he had seen the mystics beam attack at work and had even talked about wanting to wield a weapon of similar output... it looks like he got his wish after all.

Koress looks over the gathered Everglaive, he seeks his words and he finally breaks the silence "Magnum's service speaks for itself, he has always performed valiantly and broken the lines of our enemies. The development of this weapon of his is concerning, but in his hands he'll put it to good use."

Derra looks at Koress "Mi lord, if I may inquire... this weapon rivals Magnum's signature attack in destructive power, before he could only fire it in atmosphere and had to rely on other means for fighting in space."

The horse knows what the hyena was talking about "That is true lancer, this means he'll have far more offensive power in the void and that alone is a game changer. But we must remember that the mystic has been a knight through and through, he'll be able to handle fighting in space far easier which has always been a struggle for him as he refuses to carry heavy weapons. We may be looking at the first anti... everything weapon, a single shot destroying the most powerful installations imaginable.", he puts on a thinking look, he looks to Derra and says "Lancer, if you are concerned with Magnum deploying such a weapon, take your sqaud and the strike cruiser Armor of Ivory and investigate."

The hyena smiles "Yes mi lord."

Derra eventually leaves the flagship and heads to the Armor of Ivory, the same ship that fought alongside the Howl of Silver, he sees his squad tending to their gear, serfs carrying weapons and tools as they go about assiting the knights. He makes it to the bridge, taking the captains chair, his mind going to how the mystic will react to the inquiries that he has to make and within the hour the strike cruiser commences it's jump.

...........................................

Preperations are wrapping up as Magnum looks over the mercury suit, the power system is thankfully undamaged, however the stablizers and many power condits have burnt out and the twin plasma blaster was destroyed, which means he needs to fully replace it. This means H589 will now have to be the focus to make up the power demands among other things to help counter-act the force from the buster rifle, so he'll have to rethink some aspects of that prototype. His eyes go to a nearby terminal as the destroyed buster rifle prototype rests on a table, the data showing everything from the field test, his eyes scanning code as his implants buzz, helping him process the information faster and confirming the need for H589.

Elvo's avatar appears "Marouge's fleet is ready to depart as soon as we are able."

Magnum says "Exellent, prep the jump drive and sync with the fleet, we're going to have to see if we can recruit this expert.", he pulls up a few tech specs and he says "I've been looking over both the mercury and the buster rifle, there is no doubt about it, we need to make progress with H589 to solve the power issues along with a few other things."

Elvo says "Hyper jump primed, fleet syncronized for collective jump...", a look crosses her features "An Everglaive strike cruiser has just come out of a jump and is hailing us.", she looks to Magnum "It's Lancer Derra."

Magnum raises an eyebrow, he gives a scoff and he says "Put it through."

Derra appears on a comm terminal and he says "Freeblade Magnum, this is Lancer Derra. There are a few things that I wish to inquire with you, if it is possible."

The a.i. and mystic share a glance at each other, the mystic looks to the hyena "Derra, I am currently running an operation. If you wish to inquire me about anything you will need to accompany me."

The hyena nods in understanding "Very well, we'll sync our nav system with yours and we'll be ready on your command." and his transmission ends.

The coyote and the wolf once again look to each other, only two things crossing their minds about what the Everglaive could possible want to inquire about, the buster rifle... or what they found on the Metal Howlers ship.

To be contined...