[IC] Eternal Galaxy: Shards of Starlight - Part I

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

John didn't know why Revere was able to react faster than a bullet, but before he could register Aion being shot, his train of thought was taken away from Aion and Revere when he noticed the small device at his feet. John's mind surged with possible uses for such a device. It could have been a bomb, but it was impractical for Revere to use such a weapon. That was when John realized what the weapon was. On his radar, a small blue pulse was flashing right in front of his yellow dot, meaning that the device was a homing beacon. John knew only one weapon that would need a homing beacon, and it was one that was used to call in air strikes. John looked up in the sky, only to be greeted by large balls of Aura energy ripping towards him. John's shields were still at 400%, but he had no idea how much damage the airstrike would do to them. Reacting quickly, John sprinted straight for Revere and fired off a barrage of armor piercing, high-explosive rounds, all while he readied himself for Revere to retaliate.

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

A slight turn. Revere stepped as soon as John began to pull the trigger. The bullets passed Revere by. He closed his eyes and waited for John to come within arm's reach, beginning to lift his right hand towards John slowly.

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Pub

"Oh nothing, just something Cicero had mentioned a while back. He sai-" Before he could continue, his communicator beeped. "...Eh? Something's up...C'mon, let's head back up." Nero began to get up but fell flat on his face on the ground. "Guh!"

---

Manor of Eternity
The Great Hall

Aetheron nodded and walked up to the two with three medallions with the same sun and moon emblem that was on the book he held. "Take these. They will help you in identifying the girl. They're similar to what you call grenades. Align the center piece so that the dark blue central gem matches the dark blue rays and it will be armed. if you throw it, when it impacts it will burst into a field of disrupted time. the one who throws it will be unaffected, but anyone else within a twenty meter radius will be frozen in time. The girl should not be affected by this." He then handed the golden medallions with the amber and sapphire colored gems to Nova and Reaper, one to each and the third to Nova.

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

John saw that Revere was turning his arm towards him and quickly stopped, sending pebbles flying out in front of him. He knew that Revere knew certain parts of the future, which meant that he would try to counter whatever John did. If that was the case, then he would have to perform actions that would be uncounterable, ones that would remove Revere's strength. As the airstrike landed far behind John, he quickly pulled out his MA5D Assault Rifle. With this gun, it wouldn't matter how quickly Revere could move. As long as John placed down a hail of gunfire in the right patterns, Revere would get hit, especially with what John had planned. With that in mind, John laid down a hail of gunfire and quickly moved the gun about as he did so, making a complex pattern out of his bullets as he kept his M6D Magnum Pistol at the ready. The bullets raced towards Revere and the surrounding area, severely limiting his choices.

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

A Snap of his fingers and a burst of red and black energy.
A dark, semi transparent barrier erupted in front of Revere. The bullets passed through it and then him, as though phasing through a different time.

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

Still in Spartan Time, and still staring down Revere, John quickly stopped firing and tossed his pistol in the air as he flipped the magazine release switch on the gun, causing the clip to slide out and fly away from the airborne gun. As soon as it left his hand, John reloaded his MA5D Assault Rifle so quickly that his arm seemed to be a blur and before the Assault Rifle's discharged clip even made it a quarter of the way to the ground, it was already reloaded. As the M6D Magnum Pistol came back down, John grabbed a fresh clip for it, lightly tossed it in the air, and before it could reach it's peak before falling back down, John grabbed his Magnum and snapped the gun downward, forcing the magazine to slide into place and lock itself into the gun, with fresh clips in each gun, John was ready to fight. John now waited for Revere to disengage his phasing ability. As soon as it would deactivate, John would spring into action.

Manor of Eternity
The Great Hall

---

Are they one use or rechargable?" Nova asked.

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

Before he fully fell on the ground, Mima caught him with an outstreched arm.

"Easy there, fella. You drank quite a bit and I have a feeling you're more than a little drunk." Mima said, pulling him up and allowing him to lean on Mima for a bit.

Manor of Eternity
The Great Hall

"Single use. The ability to manipulate the flow of time in such a manner is taxing upon anything. It will break when the energy is released." Aetheron explained. "I gave you three, one to help you with your own task, another to find the girl, and the third is just in case..."

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Pub

Nero rested on her slightly. "Aye, At least It'll be just a while until I'm back to normal. One residual perk from being what I was." Glancing over he chuckled. "Let's go back to the study."

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

The dark barrier that protected Revere expanded instantly and engulfed John, freezing him in time. However, Revere moved towards him and grabbed John by the head with his right hand before the time disruption dissipated. The same instant, a surge of the strange dark Aura energy surged through John's AETHER Suit, disabling it and paralyzing John. "Wake Up." Then a swift motion Revere drew his sabre and thrust it through John's helmet.

Simulation Terminated.

Everyone started to get out of the simulation terminal, startled somewhat by what just happened.

"By the goddess...what the hell was that?!" Joe said as he clutched his abdomen. He was experiencing ghost pain from the simulation, where he was stabbed. Others were shaking slightly. "Seriously, what was that??"

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

Instead of being shaken up by the encounter, John was somewhat annoyed, even angry at how unstable and primitive this timeline's technology was. The shielding systems of the ships were vastly inferior in his eyes, and their technology to create simulations was dangerous at best. It was a wonder anything remained stable for the first five minutes of the simulation. Despite the pain in John's eyeball, John simply shrugged it off.

"Unstable simulation made from unstable technology. I expected better.", John said to the others without emotion.

John was usually calm and spoke very little, but if there was one thing he didn't like, it was losing, especially when he thought he was cheated.

Manor of Eternity
The Great Hall

---

"Okay then." Nova simply replied. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a mission to complete."

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

"Hmph. Okay then, if you can walk on your own, walk." Mima said, her ghost tail swaying and propelling her forward.

Sol Inceneron
Nhiome's base

Nhiome woke after a 12-hour long nap. He ran a check on his base and the ships, fixing the few small problems that sprang up from time to time. He then had a hurried meal, then piloted NatsuKaze towards Werban. He set the ship on autopilot, then relaxed in his chair, keeping an eye on his surroundings. He was still tired after the recent excitement, but he was sufficiently rested now to manage the menial task of finding a broker and checking for possible targets. After all, he needed information before he could start planning a raid.