The Celestial Way

Chapter 11 - Rushing the Way

CHAPTER 11 – RUSHING THE WAY

"Charging against the waves makes one forget the enormity of the problem at hand. In such instances, the pending result is irrelevant; one desires only release, whether through triumph or oblivion."

– Orim Anteev, "Beneath The World Storms"

They didn't believe him.

Airo felt no outrage. He didn't try to push his claim. He only turned and left, not even listening to their rationalizations. Honestly, he didn't know why he bothered revealing his 'real' identity in the first place. Perhaps he thought Magus Dei would've confirmed his story, since they had known each other in Airo's previous life. Yet the old Knight had remained silent, bearing only that enigmatic gaze of his.

It didn't matter now.

Airo was calm, detached. He felt a strange inner peace which hadn't been part of him for centuries. There was only one thing left now.

He would go and kill Ferrtau personally.

Of course, the possibility of the reverse happening was strong. Ferrtau had proven to be a nigh-invincible adversary. Airo didn't care. His course had been set the moment he had been awakened from cryostasis, and his destiny has been singular for the last seven hundred years. Besides, he still had two edges in this conflict: his time-shifting ability, even if that was unreliable at best, and the element of surprise. Few would expect a suicidal attack against a vastly superior opponent, especially at the heart of their domain.

And that's why Airo was considered a mad strategical genius in his past. More mad than genius these days, but this was pointless semantics to his numb psyche.

"Cloud," he asked the SAI on the way back to his room, "can you infiltrate the security systems of this complex?"

"I should be able to do so, Commander," Yeoman Cloud replied with enthusiasm. "However, it may take some time since I detect several advanced AI overseers."

"Begin infiltration immediately then," Airo said. "You have the night at your disposal. By morning, I want you to prepare me the fastest aircraft that can reach the Shard. Stealth capabilities are an optional secondary priority."

"Understood, Commander. Initiating system-wide infiltration."

Airo returned to his room, and managed to get a few hours of sleep. At dawn, he prepared to depart the stronghold covertly. Veralla wasn't in the room. Just as well. He interfaced the power armor. "Cloud, status update."

"Done, Commander. There's an interceptor-class stormjet waiting for you in the internal hangars at the top of the complex. Transmitting shortest unobtrusive route now."

Airo followed the indicated path through the Order's stronghold. He avoided several Radiant Knights on his way. Somebody wanted to contact him on the commlink. Airo killed the connection and disabled his positioning system. After tense twenty minutes of traversing souk-like transition halls and massive stairways made for human and dragon usage, he arrived at his destination.

The topmost hangars were wide, low-ceilinged tunnels designed to launch fighters and drones en masse. Elevator platforms led to repair bays below the hangars. The place had numerous landing pads and probably had held a score of squadrons during its prime. Now, most pads stood empty, and only a few of the hangars contained any vehicles, half of which were disassembled to varying degrees.

The navigation led Airo to a streamlined, dangerous-looking strikecraft. The power armor sensors identified it as a stormjet. It seemed completely intact, and its golden hull variformed away to reveal the cockpit as Airo approached. He settled into the pilot's seat, and studied the controls. They were completely unknown to him.