Alpha Strike: [An interstellar Weapon Platform’s Guide to being a Dungeon Core] (Book 2 title)

Progress!

Both literally and metaphorically!

Alpha had arrived at the small checkpoint building nearly 12 hours ago, and not much had happened since. The "checkpoint" itself was a simple thing, little more than a small courtyard surrounded by a stone wall, a dozen meters tall, barely able to hide the TAWP if Alpha crouched. In the courtyard's center was a watchtower, twice as high as the walls, allowing someone at the top to see for dozens of miles in all directions.

The entire complex was the first permanent structure he'd seen since the ruined temple.

A few small, humble buildings dotted the courtyard, which Alpha had assumed were offices and barracks for the stationed soldiers. Not that there were occupied, of course; this checkpoint, and the ones he could see several dozen miles away in either direction, were totally abandoned. The humans had said they'd likely be, as the soldiers were pulled back to more public areas during this "Darkest Night."

That said, Alpha had half excepted the black-and-white man to show up again or some new threat to pop its head out of the woodwork, but the last few hours have been eerily quiet.

Probably had something to do with the giant, swirling vortex of darkness in the sky…

Alpha turned his attention back to the strange phenomenon he'd been studying since he arrived. Like the Earth Shrine, the swirling clouds hadn't been visible until he got close enough, even with his advanced sensors. It was like something in the air was scattering everything he threw at it, almost like the icy shell surrounding the planet.

Instead, he'd first witnessed vibrant streams of shimmering, rainbow energy coalescing in the sky, like auroras in the night sky. These streams seemed to come from all over the prairies, likely the Earth Shrines, if he understood the human's explanations. As they drew near the center of the prairies, they combined, growing thicker and more visible until they converged into the swirling vortex.

As the vortex churned, all the colors mixed into a muddy brown cloud, this too condensing into a deep, black color that reminded Alpha of rich, fertile soil for some strange reason. The soil clouds swirled inward toward an absolute center, directly above a large building in the distance that he could just barely make out. There, the swirling black cloud grew tighter, then descended like a funnel cloud being pulled to the ground.

As they neared the building, however, something… changed. The dark, rich color of fertile soil was quickly overtaken by a choking black cloud that swirled around it, slowly filtering in and tainting it.

Not that Alpha had any idea what was happening or how the civilization he'd witnessed so far, even in the much larger "Jadewalker" city, would be capable of something like this. This was the type of weather and energy manipulation he would have expected from the Federation. Not a bunch of nomads still using swords and spears. It was more proof for Alpha's theory that someone off planet had stakes here that the natives weren't aware of.

He couldn't even get any [Wasps] close to the storm or building to scout further, either. The same interference that blocked his sensors jammed his connection to the drones. Even setting them to auto-scouting didn't work. The onboard AIs didn't have the intelligence or reflexes to make it very far into the danger zone. So rather than waste more drones, Alpha had taken the time to study the storm however he could and scout the area.

The scouting had turned up little, just more empty outposts every few dozen miles and a couple of wandering hazards that he made a note of for later. Where he had made some breakthroughs had been his arrays. Studying the storm, even with what little he could gather from it, had been a godsend. As he suspected, the energy gathering and concentrating was nearly identical to the energy inside the heart crystals.

Alpha wasn't sure which came first, though. Did the creatures naturally gather and condense this energy from their environment for later use? Or was the energy released into the environment as creatures died, leaving behind their heart crystals? Either way, observing how the energy behaved in the storm led him to several discoveries.

First, much like how electricity preferred straight lines, this strange energy preferred circles. To be more accurate, the more the energy circulated, the more organized and easier it moved. In its natural, free-flowing state, it was chaotic and highly volatile, but it became far more stable and less prone to "straying" once it started circulating.

That would explain several strange "nodes" he'd found in the drone's array. Even after identifying the functions of several parts, he'd still been unable to figure out what the point of the weird circular pools dotted along its length were. It turns out they were "rest stops" for the energy, where the energy could be circulated and stabilized before being moved to other areas.

That would also explain why most of his prototypes kept exploding. The energy was being forced through the array without enough time to stabilize properly, causing it to stray and run wild.

The second thing he'd discovered was that the energy flowed more like a gas than a liquid like electricity did. This meant several things. First, the energy had a tendency to collect into pockets of density. Higher-density energy would displace lower density, pushing it through the array. However, if there wasn't enough force, the energy would pool into pockets, eventually crystallizing.

In the small test arrays, these crystals were microscopic but were still apparently large enough to destabilize and explode, causing further chain reactions. Comparing it to the drone, Alpha realized that was another purpose of the various nodes. As they circulated and stabilized the energy, they also "cleaned" the array, removing crystalized build-up and turning it back into flowing energy.

With everything he'd learned, it only took a few hours for Alpha to finish modeling a new design for his storage array.

—

—

The design itself was simple compared to some of the more intricate and flowing arrays seen on the drone, but Alpha liked the simplicity of it. More importantly, it worked!

Originally, Alpha had been trying to force the raw energy from the stone into the arrays. This had caused the unorganized, chaotic energy to pool and clot faster than Councilmen Harris' arteries during taco Tuesdays. This time, Alpha took a different approach.

The array was divided into three major parts; input, output, and storage.

His input was still the same shaped grove he'd been using before, but now it was more apparent why the drone's input was a spiral. The energy's tendency to follow circular paths meant a spiral was perfect for drawing the energy out. This pre-stabilized energy was then directed into the second area: storage.

The storage array itself had three main parts as well. The first, the prime energy circuit, was where the energy would circulate and transfer between various parts of the array. From here, it could drain into the energy storage circuits or be directed to the output channels.

Once in storage, the energy storage circuits would act similarly to the nodes scattered around the drone's arrays. The energy would be collected, condensed, circulated, and mixed in five separate circuits connected by a primary circulator at the center. This prevented any build-up of crystals while keeping the energy condensed and ready for use, like an industrial mixer continuously spinning to keep a batch from coagulating.

From the primary circulator, energy would leak back into the prime energy circuit, where it would either begin the process again or be directed to the output channels for use.

The output had been a stroke of brilliance, if he said so himself, even if it was simple in practice. The output channels could be curved or straightened as needed using a bit of nanite skin. Since the energy almost always followed the more curved path, Alpha could keep the energy contained within the prime energy circuit by straightening the channel. Alpha could curve the output channel when a certain output needed energy, tempting the energy to siphon in.

Alpha could use this method to control when and where the energy went and how much was used. This resulted in the modular storage array, which could attach to other arrays directly through the primary output connectors. The square connectors would still circulate the energy, but made the energy very "agitated," wanting to escape. So when a second input from another array was connected to them, the energy gladly moved to the new array.

He could even link multiple storage arrays together in this way! Though he saw little use for that at the moment.

Progress was progress, though; he couldn't complain. Once he had a real base, he could dive into the deep end and see what this energy really was and what it could do. That was for later. Right now, he had other matters to deal with.

The TAWP hadn't moved for hours, ever since he'd settled into the checkpoint. To any outside observer, it might have appeared he'd simply fallen asleep… or died. But he'd been constantly monitoring the area while he worked, so his new "guest" hadn't slipped past his notice.

"Are you going to introduce yourself?"

Alpha spoke into the empty courtyard. For a long moment, no one answered until a lone figure walked out from behind a nearby building. They wore armor resembling the gear Alpha had seen worn by the various "adventurers" in Jadewalker City. Of far higher quality, however.

Had Alpha not already known what array lines looked like, he would have assumed the dense scrawl on the figure's leather armor to be decorative. At the very least, Alpha could tell whoever had done the work was far more skilled than whoever had done the sparse scrawling he'd recorded on the other adventurer's gear.

Strange enough, it still couldn't compare to the meticulous and detailed work the old man had done to his drone. It made part of the AI wonder who the petty old fart really was.

The stranger's array work was particularly dense around the wrists, lower legs, and on the otherwise featureless wooden mask they wore. The mask itself was interesting, as it didn't even have eyeholes. Whatever their purpose, Alpha suspected at least one function was voice modulation. When the figure spoke, their voice was grainy and rough, obviously artificial, after all.

"I shouldn't be surprised. Your reputation precedes you, 'Lord Protector.' If my companion hadn't warned me about you, I'd have thought all my -cloaking- [Hahdj@#5a] were damaged or defective."

Alpha noted the first unknown word he'd heard in a while. His guest hadn't used the word for arrays, but it had contained similar root syllables. Interesting. Was it a cultural thing? Or was there more to it? Filing that away for later, Alpha responded.

"Strange. You don't strike me as a native. And everyone else around these parts has the funny habit of not staying in enough pieces to talk about me. I'll assume you're not supposed to be my contact, either. My friends are currently… indisposed at the moment. What was your 'companion's' name? Maybe I can point you toward what's left."

The masked figure only shrugged and strolled in his direction as it spoke.

"There's no need for that, Lord Protector. My companion is being returned home as we speak. As for who they are, I'm afraid I can't say much. Professional standards and all that, I'm sure you understand. But have no fear. I'm not here for revenge. Not against your esteemed self, at the very least."

The TAWP stood, and Alpha turned to face the figure, raising the war machine to its full height. That display, at least, gave the figure pause, stopping several dozen meters away.

"Oh? Then who are you after?"

The figure laughed and answered.

"Let's just say the enemy of my enemy is my friend—"

Alpha could hear the grin in the figure's next words despite the mask.

"—And I hope we can be very

 good friends, Mr. Lord Protector."

—————

"Let us out! This is ridiculous! We're telling you we were attacked!"

Ganaa rattled the bars of his cell, despite the hard glares of the Guardian standing guard on the other side. They'd been locked up for hours now, with no news at all. They hadn't even been allowed to defend themselves and had been thrown into cells as soon as they'd been dragged to the jail cart.

The excuse they'd been given was no one had time to deal with a 'drunken brawl' this close to the Darkest Night, but Ganaa knew it was elkcrap! This whole situation was fishy as hell, from the priest's odd refusal to the attack from unknown men who'd burst into black flames. Hell, even the Guardians reacting so quickly was strange. The fight had lasted only a handful of breaths; unless a patrol had been walking by at that exact time, how would they have even arrived so fast?

"Ganaa. Stop. Sit down and rest; you'll be no help to anyone if you don't get some sleep. Zolzaya will kill you if you wake her up, too."

Ulagan placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him away from the bars. With their guard ignoring him, Ganaa turned and directed all his pent-up frustration on the other man instead.

"How can you be so calm, Ulagan?! How can any of you sleep? You can't tell me that any of this is normal!"

Ulagan shook his head and responded, his voice soft.

"No. It's not normal. But there is nothing we can do about it right now. All we can do is wait and try to contact someone who will listen."

Ganaa threw his hands into the air and yelled.

"We don—."

Ulagan's sharp glare cut his words off. Ganaa glanced at the three nearby women as they slept in a pile, and Juatan, off to the side, resting with his back to the wall. He continued, more in a whisper this time.

"We don't have time, Ulagan! The Darkest Day is less than two days away, and the Lord Protector should already be in place by now! If we don't hurry, we'll be too late."

Ulagan sighed and patted Ganaa's shoulder again.

"Yes. I know. Even so, we—"

"Too late for what, exactly? What is it you're really planning?"

The loud voice cut Ulagan off and caused the sleeping Slatewalkers to stir.

From the open door, the same priest who had turned them away at the temple walked into the room, sneering down at them through the bars.

When he spoke, it was no longer with the cold detachment from the temple but with audible disdain.

"I knew it was smart to keep you backwater yolks from the Head Priest. Tell me, what are your actual goals? We detected Black Arts in that room you destroyed, so don't think you can fool us any longer! We will not tolerate cultists of Iris in this city!"