---

The traces of the scandalous experiments conducted by ASD chief scientist Dr. Jorrit led to the decommissioned Onyx facilities of the ASD in Stanton. There were indications that scavengers were present in the facilities. Raff wanted to conduct a reconnaissance mission before we investigated there. I had just arrived in GrimHex to discuss the next steps with Raff and Kjeld. I also hoped that Kjeld knew something about Brubacker, Alaska, Pike, and Friedrich. I hadn’t heard from them since we parted ways in Pyro. Raff and I drank a Smoltz at the racetrack’s panoramic window and waited for Kjeld. Suddenly, Brubacker ran past us. He went up the stairs, stopped halfway, turned around, and looked at me in bewilderment. Then he came back and joined us.

“Zero…?”

“Bru…”

“Nice masquerade. Finished praying?”

An angry surge of energy coursed through my body. I had regained my center after meditating in the desert, but my balance was not yet stable. I really couldn’t handle this sarcasm right now. I swallowed my anger and tried to respond calmly.

“Yes. And it was important. I couldn’t think clearly anymore. I wouldn’t have been any help to any of us. But I’m glad you arrived safely in Stanton. Where are the others?”

Brubacker told me that they had found the cure for Alaska and Friedrich’s illness near a Hathor station on Daymar. Everyone was here on GrimHex. Then I told him about our plan and that I was waiting for a response from the Hockrow Agency. At that moment, Kjeld and Batou appeared. Brubacker greeted them briefly, then said to me:

“Can I talk to you alone for a moment?”

We walked a few steps away, then he burst out like a roaring waterfall.

“You can’t just bring people on board. I’m trying to keep the group small—as few people as possible who know about it.”

I looked at Brubacker in disbelief. Did he even know what he was saying? Did he still have an overview of the situation?

“Damn it, Bru, they’re already on board. They helped us in Farro and Lazarus. Without Kjeld and his people, we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

“I know that,” Brubacker snapped at me. “And Kjeld has our complete trust, but we need to coordinate better. Your solo efforts are annoying.”

I shook my head in incomprehension. What was going on with Brubacker? Had his time in Pyro made him even more fearful than he already was? He was becoming more and more distant, and at that moment, I felt like he was a millstone around my neck. While I was looking for a way to uncover the secrets of the ASD, he was causing stress. Nevertheless, I tried to remain calm. I took a deep breath, then handed him the communication devices I had received from Gerald and went back to Kjeld and his guys.

Together we looked at the Constellation Aquila, which Raff had used to escape from Lazarus. It was an ASD ship. We hoped that the ship’s ASD identification would allow us to enter the Onyx facility. However, I had to make some modifications to conceal the fact that it was the ship stolen from Lazarus. After that, I gave Batou’s Reclaimer, which he had gotten from who knows where, a new registration ID. Then I left GrimHex. Too many people knew me here. It was safer to sleep deep in space in the White Rabbit.

*

A few days later, I received the location of the Onyx facility from the Hockrow Agency. With a small reconnaissance team that Kjeld had put together, we set off. Jennifer, whom I had met earlier in Deadlight, was also there. We closed our agreed deal. I received a sand-colored railgun in exchange for a black Demeco LMG. It was a trade measured not by financial value, but by personal interest. I liked people who were that straightforward.

The Onyx facility lay inconspicuous in the darkness of the night. A tall, narrow central building flanked by two horizontal hangar doors. Only a few dim lanterns illuminated the exterior. The rest of the facility must have been underground.

First, we examined the outside area. While the rover provided cover, Kjeld and I searched the surroundings. We couldn’t find an entrance, but we did find containers with the ASD logo that were intended for transporting liquids. I wondered if they were used to transport the Vanduul biofluid that the ASD was experimenting with, according to our information.

It was strange. I didn’t like bunkers or underground facilities, and I hated fighting. Nevertheless, I was surprisingly calm. I felt safe in the company of Kjeld and his people. Suddenly, the frightened voice of Jennifer, who had stayed aboard the Aquila with Batou, came over the radio.

“Attention! A Palladin is coming. No idea where it came from. It was just suddenly there.”

“Lights out and take cover,” Kjeld ordered.

I jumped behind the container in one leap and watched the gunboat through my binoculars. For a moment, it hovered above the Aquila, then the heavily armed spaceship landed in a hangar.

“Who were those guys? Scavengers?”

“No idea. But they scanned the Aquila.”

We were lucky again. But now we knew for sure that we weren’t alone. The thought of going into the underground facility made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. We hurried back to the Aquila. Then we tried our luck and sent the Aquila’s ASD ID. A hangar door opened and we landed in the facility.

In the hangar, a large ASD logo on a red wall greeted us. It was quiet, very quiet, almost too quiet. We took an elevator to the lobby. Jennifer and Batou stayed behind as a security team.

In the lobby, we were greeted again by a large ASD logo. Everything was red, the color of ASD. Or was it the color of blood? The light was dim and the air hazy. It was total chaos. There were boxes lying around everywhere. It looked as if the facility had been abandoned in a hurry. We carefully made our way from the elevators to the reception area. A free-standing elevator shaft with red glass and the ASD logo stretched to dizzying heights. Here, too, there were boxes, chaos, wilted plants, and broken pipes from which water flowed. The facility must have been out of operation for quite some time. The central elevator was also out of service. Large signs pointed the way to the engineering and research areas. It was downright spooky. Only the howling of an air current could be heard—and the echo of our footsteps as we moved slowly. Behind the reception area, we found a functioning infirmary and a collapsed area.

“There’s a hand sticking out from under the rubble here,” Raff reported.

We carefully climbed over the collapsed concrete slabs. We found another corpse and a skull. A shiver ran down my spine. The dead were wearing overalls with the ASD logo. One had a data pad with him. Raff pulled it out from under the rubble and gave it to me. What on earth had happened here?

“Let’s go to engineering. Maybe we’ll find out more there,” Kjeld ordered.

No sooner had we entered the engineering wing than Raff whispered,

“Cover! Someone’s coming.”

Instinctively, I pressed myself against the wall. I hardly dared to breathe. First I heard footsteps, then gunshots. The silenced weapons of Kjeld’s men responded.

Damn, it started again. My hand clenched around my weapon. Then it went quiet again. Only a strange loud noise could still be heard. A swelling woop woop wow woop and then a powerful loud WHUUUUMMS. As if something was charging up and then discharging explosively. Then a pause, and eventually woop woop woop woop again – WHUUUUMMS. It shook me to the core.

Slowly, I emerged from my cover and examined the dead. Their ragged, mismatched outfits clearly identified them as scavengers. As we went down the stairs, we found two more dead bodies wearing ASD overalls. While I was examining the bodies, that woop woop woop woop – WHUUUUMMS sound came again. I flinched, then packed up everything that seemed usable.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I looked to the right. A metal walkway led through a tunnel-like cave that quickly opened up into a wide hall. Large industrial machines stood in the hall, and in the middle of it, a worm moved back and forth vertically. A Valakaar – a large adult. I stood there in awe, my mouth open. I hadn’t expected that.

“Zero, are you coming?”

The voice snapped me out of my stupor. The others had already moved on. Because of the large Valakaar, we didn’t follow the walkway, but went into a side cave instead. The rocky ground was slippery. I slipped. As I was getting back up, I suddenly heard shots and screams.

“Watch out! They’re coming out of the ground. Valakaars!”

A mixture of fear and joy flooded my veins. “The sacred hunt begins,” shot through my head. But by the time I had climbed up the rocks, the short battle was already over. Three young Valakaars lay on the cave floor. Kjeld’s people were really on the ball.

Risa came up to me and showed me a glowing green tooth.

“I took this from the animal. Can you do anything with it?”

Fascinated, I looked at the tooth, then walked over to the dead worm. Pure horror spread through me – this couldn’t be true. It glowed green in several places.

“It’s radioactive,” I said quietly and took the Valakaars’ teeth.

“There was a sign up there warning of radioactive radiation,” said Risa.

“And I saw on the monitor that the stability of the reactor core is critical,” I added.

“Retreat!” ordered Kjeld. “It’s too dangerous. We only have light protective equipment. But we’ll take a look at the research wing.”

On the way to the research wing, I wondered whether the Valakaars had been irradiated because of the reactor or because of an experiment – an experiment like the one in the Lazarus Complex. But to find out, we had to go deeper into the facility.

The entrance area of the research wing was a large auditorium with several levels. The individual floors surrounded a central shaft that went deep down, like balconies.

“Stay away from the railing. Stay close to the wall,” Kjeld ordered.

We crept along the wall in single file to the reception area. Four bodies lay there, which I immediately examined.

“These two are clearly scavengers. But these two here are different. The heavy red armor looks too professional for scavengers,” I analyzed.

“The elevator shaft has collapsed,” Kjeld noted. “The sign says there are nine levels. The facility is huge. Zero, see if you can download a floor plan from the terminal.”

As I downloaded the floor plan at the reception desk, I suddenly heard something.

“There are voices.”

“They’re coming from below,” Risa replied.

Then shots echoed up to us. But they weren’t normal shots. They sounded different—heavy, powerful, destructive. Goosebumps covered my body.

“Those are Volt energy weapons,” Kjeld remarked. “We’re retreating.”

We left the facility. One thing was clear. Returning to investigate would be no walk in the park. The supposedly decommissioned Onyx facility was more active than we had thought. Officially, it was out of service, but something was still working inside. And it was definitely not abandoned. We had to expect the worst. But doing nothing would be even worse. We had to uncover what experiments Dr. Jorrit was conducting. I had a feeling he wasn’t up to anything good.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)