Elsewhere

Duke ran down to where the dungeon entrance should be, dodging all sorts of Clan members and others who seemed panicked and confused. He ignored them in his haste, pushing his Agility to avoid colliding. After the third near-collision, he opted to fly down over their heads since the Iron Reaver’s corridors were especially tall. Duke guessed that was the case to handle different races, but the thought fled as quickly as it came. He arrived in front of where the dungeon entrance should have been. He was staring at an ordinary ship’s door.

“What the hell is that?” Duke placed his hand on the access panel to the room and was greeted with a system notification.

*** Authority recognized and accepted. Dungeon, “The Clanhold” requests a meeting with the Dungeon Emperor. Accept (Y/N) ***

Duke accepted and was pulled into the dungeon. He found himself standing in the open area before the Clanhold where the mech battle had been upon his arrival on the planet. Standing before him was a single orc. She was, like most every member of her race, muscular and imposing. She stood nearly a full head taller than Duke and gazed down at him with fire in her green eyes.

“Why have you made me so?”

On the surface, it was a simple question with a simple answer, but Duke suspected there was more to it than that.

“Explain what you mean, and we can talk about it. I have very specific reasons, but I want to hear what grieves you first.”

“You made me capable of growing as an inner world but have placed such onerous restrictions on me. I cannot grow seeds without your permission. I cannot even send explorers outside of my entrance. Why? Why have you done this to me?”

“You were made to house and grow the Steel Tusk Clan. They will have need of dungeons within your inner world but not right away. Your purpose is to sustain and grow the Clan. They will be your wards, and it is up to you to keep them relatively safe. They are a Clan built for combat so providing them with challenges will keep you well-occupied. Finally, you are planted on a ship, so you are confined here. This is just how it is.”

“I understand and will comply, Emperor.” The change in demeanor was sudden and jarring.

“Don’t get all maudlin on me. I could have planted you on a barren world with no chance of anyone visiting you for centuries or longer. Would you have liked that?”

“No, Emperor. I do not wish to be so feral.”

“That’s because I made you better and stronger than any feral dungeon. Fulfill your purpose.”

“As you say, Emperor.” There was a hint of pride in the dungeon’s voice.

Duke looked around and immediately realized he needed to make some changes. He flexed his DUNGEON MANIPULATION Ability and began to create some additional buildings outside the Clanhold itself. First, he created an enormous mech hangar with multiple workshop spaces and literally tons of raw materials. Fuck, that’s not going to work. He removed the raw materials as they would not be allowed to actually leave the dungeon. That could have cause some serious problems.

He created a set of doors large enough to accommodate the titan mech that led to a blank wall. “Not ready to set it up yet, but that will make for a good Portal anchor. I’ll have to find a good point on the outside of the ship to make the other anchor. Yeah. More to do.” Duke extended the blank wall further into the small mountain he had raised for the hangar. After adding another set of doors, he was satisfied that he had an effective airlock.

Similarly, he created another airlock in a small building that encompassed the dungeon entrance. He had no idea whether the airlocks were necessary but since this was all attaching to a ship, he wanted airlocks.

Finally, he exited the dungeon to find the Council of Elders waiting for him in the hallway. Just what I fucking need. Old bastards coming to demand shit from me that they don’t deserve.

“Friend Duke, a word if we may?”

Duke locked his expression down with a force of will, “Of course. Let’s go to one of the briefing rooms and speak.” He did not wait for a response. Duke maintained his calm demeanor as he entered the briefing room and sat down on the desk at the front of the room. He barely gave them time to sit down before he started.

“Enemies approach. The longer this takes, the less time I have to engage them before they arrive. You asked for this talk, so go ahead.”

The Clan Elders collectively leaned back away from Duke as he spoke, eyes hardening. Finally, the Elder who had addressed him outside the Clanhold spoke up, “You still have the arrogance of youth. But, in this case it serves you well.” Duke made a “get on with it” gesture with his hand. She continued with a slight smile, “I have been told that you have made a place for the Clan on this ship. We need to know if it truly is safe and is large enough to hold the whole Clan.”

“Is that it? Well, why are we wasting time? Yes, it’s safe and yes, it will house the whole Clan and then some. Follow me right back to where we were.” Duke paused and changed his mind. “On second thought…” He TELEPORTED himself and the group of Elders into the dungeon.

As they climbed back to their feet, Duke continued to speak, “This may look like the Clanhold but it is a re-creation of it. Things will not be precise and if there is anything major that needs to be changed, I can make the changes for you.” Duke pointed to the mech hangar. “That is a hangar for mechs with space for workshops. I don’t know what else you might need but we can get to it later. And this,” Duke pointed to the smaller building behind him, “is the door to the ship. It will work for you now. Feel free to use it as you wish. The ship itself is leaving in less than two hours. If you are on-board or in here, great. If not, prepare to fight off the Syndicate fleet and whatever else they are bringing with them. I have to go now.”

He did not wait for a response, leaving them with stunned looks on their faces as he TELEPORTED back to the bridge.

“Mira, I’ve given the Clan two hours to load up or stay. Does that give you enough window to get clear of the planet and run if needed?”

“What do you mean, ‘if needed?’ I sure as hell am not fighting off a fucking dreadnaught with a drop ship!”

“No, but I’m going to go fight a dreadnaught, from the inside if I can manage it.”

“You’ll never get past their shields. It’s not worth you dying.”

“Don’t worry about me. I have a plan.”

“Oh, I feel so much better now. Care to share that plan with me?”

“And the thirty other randos wandering around the bridge? No thanks. You really need to take hold of your ship and kick them off the bridge.”

He just barely ducked her swing, chuckling as he moved to the navigation console. She fumed at him for a moment before turning around and shouting, “If you do not have a specific function or reason for being on my bridge, get the hell off it NOW!” Duke suppressed a chuckle as he delved into the screens.

He brought up the scans of the approaching ships and started to go into them heavily. He knew the scanners worked on some sort of divination magic. What he did not know was whether he could use his CLAIRVOYANCE Ability through them. He really needed precise details for what he was planning, and the scans just weren’t detailed enough.

Duke concentrated on his Ability, trying to focus it through whatever magical means the scanners worked. At first, there was no reaction. Neither his Ability nor the scanners reacted to his attempts to combine them. After several minutes of frustration, he decided to try another tack. He engaged his DUNGEON SENSE to delve into the runescripting and see how it functioned. He stepped away from that path as well. I could eventually figure it out, but I don’t have hours to try. Time for the dumbass approach.

Duke engaged his Stealth Skill, AURA CONCEALMENT, and LASTING DISGUISE to make himself as unremarkable and difficult to spot and TELEPORTED into the path of the approaching dreadnaught. He had his DUNGEON SENSE focused on the approaching ship, using as much of his more than three-hundred-thousand-kilometer range as he could. With only seconds to act, he used his FLIGHT to give him an extra second of analysis before he put his plan into action. But even his remarkable FLIGHT speed was no match for the velocity of the ship.

As the ship caught up to him, he TELEPORTED to the only other dimension that he knew overlapped spatially and immediately TELEPORTED back hoping his timing was on-point. His analysis had told him that Mira was right about the ship’s shields being strong enough to prevent him from penetrating them with his Ability used normally. He hoped that this would be an exotic enough approach that nobody had ever tried anything like it before.

Duke caught a flash of an image in the alternate dimension before slipping back into this one. The image was fleeting but left an impression. It was a vision of absolute darkness, beyond the light of any star. He had flashed into the outer edge of the universe, where the paradox of the infinite and finite intertwined. He was stunned by the sight and was not at all ready when his Ability ripped him back.

He arrived, flat on his back, in what his addled mind took to be a storeroom. Everything hurt, but the pain began to fade as his REGENERATION took over and his mind cleared. Duke sat up and took stock of his surroundings. He was indeed in a storage area, but not a janitorial closet. This was an armory filled with all sorts of weapons. There were racks upon racks of swords, maces, and axes. There were also shields and a few suits of armor, all bearing the insignia of the Syndicate. There were also enchanted sidearms and rifles in racks. He smiled and pulled the entire contents of this armory into his INVENTORY, thankful that he had removed so many of the mechs that were taking up space. I really have to let the Clan know that the mechs in the mech bay are all theirs. Focus, dammit!

Duke spread his DUNGEON SENSE out to survey the ship he was on and make sure it was, in fact, the dreadnaught. It only took a minute to realize that he was on the battleship and not the dreadnaught as he had expected. Do I have the time to steal a shuttle and make my way over to the dreadnaught? Would that even work? Probably not. Time for Plan C.

Duke could sense someone walking down the hall nearby and TELEPORTED them into the armory. They were dead before they could react to the change in scenery. It was a simple matter to assume their appearance through his LASTING DISGUISE Ability. Time to cause chaos! Duke set out for the bridge of the ship.