Corpo Age

Against my better judgment, we agreed to Lance’s plan of using emergency escape pods as a means of transportation to reach one of the spaceships currently fighting just outside of Aegis.

The occasional tremors were all I needed to know that the battle was still ongoing. I wasn’t sure exactly what strategic positions they were fighting for, but Aegis happened to be one of the battlegrounds. It wasn’t a surprise considering it was part of the only space elevator that connected the expanse to Earth.

Before we launched from the station, I was able to peer at the war zone. There were numerous docks on Aegis, and not all of them had military-level security. Borrowing their cameras was an easy task.

“That’s like a hundred ships fighting out there,” Claire commented. “Some of them are large battleship-sized, so that’s like what? Ten thousand men fighting for their lives?”

“As intense as the fighting appears to be, they are holding back,” Lance retorted. “Neither side wants to destroy Aegis.”

With a few more assurances, the spacious escape pod we boarded soon launched out toward the battlefield. I quickly shut off the feed that depicted the occasional colorful laser beams that the ships shot out to eliminate each other. I knew there were plenty of weapons being fired that didn’t elicit such a color spectacle that was just as deadly, but that didn’t mean I wanted to watch the mess we were diving headfirst into.

Reading our expressions, Lance continued to soothe our worries.

“Relax. These escape pods are designed to navigate through chaotic battlefields.”

Glancing around the pod at his words, I tried to look for any systems that could support what he said. I looked for advanced energy shield generators or evasion systems, but couldn’t spot anything.

According to my research on ship designs, these advanced systems were often bulky, as size mattered. The larger a shield generator, the better its defensive capabilities. It was the reason jet fighter-sized small crafts were not used at all. They were too easy to shoot down.

That was why I readily gave up the search and asked for answers directly.

“And what exactly technology marvels are installed in this pod that give you such confidence?”

“This thing is said to be undetectable to our enemies, but our allies should be able to see us. We don’t have to worry about friendly fire or being targeted.”

“Okay—and what about a stray shot?”

“Then we’ll have to rely on the specially designed armor with three-sixty crumple zones. The outer layer should be expunged, while the force of the attack should propel us far away.”

Great, it is neither evasion nor an energy shield. Relying on crumple zones, of all things. It may be cheaper to implement, but that means a direct shot can end us!

I kept that fact to myself as I noticed Thorne and Claire getting more comfortable with Lance’s explanations.

Thankfully, the distance from Aegis to the active battlefield wasn’t that far. It appeared our destination wasn’t in the heart of the fighting, either. It was a colossal battleship stationed toward the rear of the fighting.

Without slowing down to adjust our trajectory, our escape pod was able to fly straight into one of the hangars. It allowed me to witness another function of the energy shield protecting the hangar.

Throughout my past experience, I had only ridden on vessels that had full control over their flight path. An escape pod did not. It could only use small thrusters with pressured gas to adjust minor attitude or velocity. It wasn’t enough to slow us down for landing.

That’s why I was surprised when we shot straight toward the energy shield of the hangar. However, when we made contact with the blue shimmering shield, it stretched back as if it were made of rubber. It managed to slow us down until we came to a stop.

Immediately, several technicians rushed to the pod and opened the hatch.

None of them found our entry abnormal and helped us out as if it were a routine event. They were obviously expecting us. However, it still caught me off-guard when all of them dispersed as soon as we were able to disembark.

We were still strangers who boarded their ship, but their guard was completely down against us. They didn’t consider the chance we were saboteurs at all, despite being in the middle of battle. Even Lance moved to leave, but not without any parting words.

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“This is as far as I will go. The ship’s systems will lead you to where my boss is. He can answer your questions.”

The moment he stopped talking, my SAID received an alert that an attempt to establish a connection was received. It only took a few moments to scan it and found it to be only navigational data. Upon accepting it, a familiar white arrow appeared in my vision, guiding our path toward the interior of the ship.

I exchanged looks with my companion and it appeared they all received the same thing. We nodded and began walking out of the hangar.

We were all eager for answers and knew we were already at the mercy of whichever SocialCorp executive that invited us. Hesitating was just a waste of time. We would rather meet this executive sooner to find answers.

Still, I could tell the same suspicion was welling up within all three of us. The chances of a random executive suddenly rescuing us were too low. Without exchanging words, all three of us knew there was only one person who was known to pull a stunt like this.

We walked through the eerily quiet corridors of the ship. From its size, I assumed there would be hundreds of crew members on it, but so far, we hadn’t seen anyone ever since we left the hangar.

The navigation arrows guided us further into the ship. The layout of the place was evidently not as simple as thought. Being the huge battleship it was, there were multiple levels, and some areas would only be accessible by going up and down. It was a design concept that minimized how much damage could spread in the event the hull was breached, but in exchange, it became like a maze.

Every door we passed through opened automatically. Even when we came across parts of the ship that needed repairs, drones completed the work instead of any engineers. The level of automation led me to believe an AI similar to Lanus controlled the ship. Naturally, if I could fund the facilities that could support an AI, the large corporations could do it was ease.

I could only laugh at myself for being captured by the consortium for an offense that every top corporation likely broke as well. It showed my lack of influence, and how small of a player I was.

After some time, we were led to a hefty set of reinforced doors. It was made of a murky gold alloy. There was no knob, handle, or anything that we could use to open it. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get the doors to budge when we pushed it.

“You’d think they would be ready to receive us if we sent us all the way over here,” Claire vented.

“Hmm, the other party may just be busy. After all, we’re in the middle of a battlefield,” I justified.

My words caused Thorne to scoff.

“Or they could just be doing this on purpose. They could be laughing at us right now as they watch us from the cams.”

No matter what we said, the doors didn’t open. We were made to wait. The ship occasionally jerked, abruptly changing our heading, but otherwise remained calm. It was likely thanks to the importance of this ship. It probably served as the flagship or some other important role, so it wasn’t in the heat of the fighting.

After what felt like to be an entire day, but actually several tens of minutes, the doors automatically opened.

Thorne impatiently rushed in, determined to give a piece of his mind to the person who the other side. However, he stood frozen upon only taking a few steps forward. I didn’t have to ponder for the reason because I, too, witnessed the cause.

The scene on the other side wasn’t anything we had expected. I thought it would either be an office for the important executive or the bridge. The result didn’t stray far, but didn’t make it any less surprising.

That was because there were hundreds of tiny metal claws before our eyes all squirming around under the dark lighting with sparse neon lights. It could be more accurate to describe them as metal hands, but that wasn’t a distinction I cared to settle right now. Instead, my focus was on the back of the person to which all these metal hands were connected.

These metal limbs weren’t idle, but were manipulating the dozens of terminals spread across the room. The place was essentially the bridge of this ship. However, only one person was running the show.

This scene also confirmed the identity of the person before me. We had met once, albeit through a video call, but he was operating the same kind of robotic arms. As expected, it was my guardian angel who called himself the NPC.

Before we could say anything, the lone man turned around to face us.

“Welcome to The Arcadia. Apologies for the wait, but there were some matters I had to attend to.”

As he spoke, a large screen was projected into the middle of the room, showcasing the battle outside. A dozen ships were seen speeding away as even more vessels were seen chasing behind them. In their trail, there were wrecked ships floating around and hundreds of shuttles scavenging the area. It appeared the bulk of the battle had ended during the time we spent waiting.

“—NPC, we meet again,” I managed to blurt out.

“Yes. It’s taken longer than I’d like, but the circumstances necessitated the wait.”

“Can you tell me why you chose this time to bring me here? You made me escape from the consortium when they were only questioning me. I don’t see a need for such drastic action, especially when you’re already so—busy.”

“You’d be a fool to think you can talk your way out. Many considerations and interests were exchanged behind the scenes. You wouldn’t have been freed so easily.”

“And that’s because of you? Your enemies are trying to get to you by capturing me, right? I think it’s about time you explained why I even matter to you. I don’t think just having our goals align necessitates all this trouble you went through to keep an eye on me.”

“Hmm, I suppose I have some time to spare until Xavier’s forces respond. I’ll need your full cooperation for the next phase of my plans, anyway, so having your understanding works out. Tell me, how familiar are you with The Gamer?”

What? Isn’t that terrorist who bombed the space elevator? He’s been dead for decades. How can that have to do with me?