Shinka Knights IC

Death Vally l Around midnight

The tengu carefully took the reins of their carriage so the infecta could relax, she knew from experience that people with Seki's personality had an almost never-ending battery, but even those walking energy reactors needed some moments to relax.

Looking at their surroundings, Kris started releasing different powders and spores, the former where to acclimate themselves with the flora and fauna of the valley while the latter was to attract the animals, it was a good combination of hiding within the wilderness' society ("Even the most dangerous creatures are calm with the ones they feel no threat, the "civilized" creatures could learn a thing or two from the "beasts"") she thought eyeing her friend ("We will achieve something big young one, don`t lose your hopes")

R&D Labs - Shinka Knights HQ - Infecta Base

As the red lights began to flash and the loud alarm sounded off throughout the entire base, Coopers first reaction was to swiftly check the perimiter which he could easily do from one of the computers within the laboratory. Hearing Jason's request Cooper knew the soldier must have had something in mid. cooper turned to one of the lab aids and gave them their orders. "Give the man whatever he needs. i don't care if you have to rip it from the gear we're currently working on just do it." "Yes sir" responded the aid. He then quickly rushed and gathered the things Jason had requested while Cooper got to work on what he was doing.

The moment Starla override the door to the old guard post, Cooper knew about it. The receiver was able to bypass Cooper's firewall, but it wasn't able to go unnoticed. Knowing he had but a short window of time cooper quickly set up a simple program. The receiver left a back door for Cooper to exploit, in order to use it to his fullest for now he allowed Starla to manipulate the base as she pleased. "Brooks there's been a break in in the eastern part of the building. I can't pinpoint the exact location but we need a unit over there asap to stop whatever's out there. Jason i'll buy you as much time as i can but you need to hurry." Cooper then went back to his work. By the time Starla had shot off the lights, Cooper had already made the simple program and sent it back to the unknown hacker.

The program had two simple functions. 1 was to delete the program which booted a computer whenever it was turned on, making it impossible to turn the computer on again if it were ever turned off. The computer could operate perfectly fine without this program however it could never restart o reboot. The second function of the program was to open up two more of the same program. this would then cause a chain reaction where one program became two, two then four then eight then sis teen, thirty two and so on. The program was like a snowball rolling down hill, gaining speed and becoming bigger and bigger. This function alone was pretty harmless as it could be fixed simply by restarting the computer or waiting for the infinite amount of programs to crash the system, forcing it to reboot. This program was so simple a high school student could have made it, but that's what made it so brilliant. Due to Starla's neglecting to protect herself once logged into the Infecta's system, Cooper was easily able to upload the program to her computer. Even then it would be extremely easy to detect. Unfortunately by the time it was detected it was already too late. Ragnarokian computers had amazing processing power capable of opening such a small and simple program hundreds if not thousands of times in mere seconds. The systems own power would be it's downfall. Depending on how prepared Starla was however this system could keep her computer offline anywhere from 15 minutes to 24 hours. after all there were bound to be more than one computer for Starla to access.

Meanwhile Brooks had put the laboratory on lock down. 4 inch thick steel gates blocked all entrances and exits. But not before leaving to go investigate the current situation. Before leaving he gave very specific instructions to Jason not to let anything happen to Cooper. He left the security, the rooky from befroe and the lab guys under Jason's command for the time being. Jason would answer only to Cooper. Once outside Brooks contacted Zero over the same comunication system he used to give all the Infects units orders. "Zero the base is under attack. I want you to head to the eastern area of the building and report anything you find there back to Cooper. He'll take care of you from there. Feel free to take whatever men you cross on your way with you. Right now you're the only member left of the recon unit with a working set of armor., you're the only one who can do this."

Death Vally l Around midnight

The Infecta reluctantly let go of the reins, knowing once she did, she would have anything to focus on to keep her awake through the night. As tired as she was, she didn't wish to leave her companion all the work of moving and watching out for wild beasts. (or worse) The infecta fought sleep for a while, her head would drop as she fell asleep for moments at a time, the falling of her head then quickly made her regain consciousness each time. All the while the Tengu's animal ears could pick up the faint mumbling and moaning the girl made as she struggled. This went on for about 10 minutes before Seki's head fell on the shoulder of her Tengu ally, causing a slight disturbance in the otherwise quiet forest. The soft fur on her exposed flesh made for an exultant pillow. She was out cold, but every now and then her faint mumbling could still be heard in her dreams.

R&D Labs - Shinka Knights HQ - Infecta Base

Jason simply nodded as he was ordered to protect Cooper. It was clear that Jason was very focused in what he was doing as he measured the materials he had taken with him, but he at least gave acknowledgement to his orders. He was thankful that he had a somewhat free reign over the labs and its personnel now. This would make things much easier for him.

As soon as the lab aid came back with what Jason had requested, he placed all of the materials into the chemical binder and set it to its finest setting. Once that was done, Jason quickly took all the components the lab aid had given him and began to construct some kind of device. As he hastily assembled the items before him, Jason began hastily calling out orders.

"Unbolt the tables from the ground and lay them towards the door. I need two of you to overcharge that ceiling ventilation fan in front of the door. I need seven of you to collect plasma torches and hand them to me. If anyone has a suit, now would be a good time to armor-up.", Jason said as the chemical binder beeped, signaling that it was finished.

Jason quickly grabbed an empty jar from the table, grabbed the chemical binder, and quickly poured the newly completed "nano dust" Thermite inside. He then quickly sealed the container before going back to work on the EMP device he was building.

Death Valley l Around midnight


The tengu would have chuckled at the infecta´s actions it wasn´t for their current circumstances, instead she kept focusing on her task of keeping them as low level as possible. When she felt Seki´s head resting on her fur, Kris moved her tail so it could cover the fire user´s lap "Take some rest, I will wake you up if something occurs" she reassured the girl while petting her head to relax the infecta.

The fox tengu wasn´t on her best state since she was awake for almost 24 hours, but with her training along the centuries, Kris could be awake for almost a week and focus her energy reserves to what mattered, so leading a wagon while keeping her senses for any threat wasn´t a hard thing to do for her body. The only thing that worried her was that humanoid tainted being, it managed to control a horde of tainted with simple actions, then came the Ragnarokians and the infecta getting restless to making drastic measures ("We are close to the end of this war, there will be genocides, but I will try to save those who deserve another chance") she looked at the sleeping figure at her side ("I will find a way")

Shinka Knights HQ - Infecta Base

Nemesis continued down the hallway but stopped suddenly when she noticed a room labeled DATA TERMINAL. Calculating the odds of there being an access point to the central server, she decided that it would be beneficial to enter the room. However a door blocked her way in. She then contacted Starla to have her remove the obstacle. "Starla, I have found a possible access point to the base's servers, however there is a door preventing access. Since you are connected to the system, could you please open the door to room 'Data Terminal'?" When Starla didn't immediately respond, Nemesis repeated the inquiry.

Back at the Ragnarok labs, Starla was dealing with her own issues. The program Cooper uploaded to the computer Starla was using to access the base was flooding the screen with repeating code. "Careless, Starla...You can't make silly mistakes like this..." Starla muttered under her breath. She then finally realized Nemesis was talking to her after she repeated her inquiry for the third time. "Ah! Nemesis, I've lost the ability to access the base's doors..."

"Understood." Nemesis responded before taking her hand, holding it flat, and doing a quick jab at the door. Her arm punched through the door with a loud thud. Slowly, she then moved her hand to grab onto the opposite side of the door. With the same force she applied to punch through it, she then pulled the entire door out of the wall and discarded it. The room had various monitors and computers, but what Nemesis was after was an interface point. Opposite to the door was the primary computer, which Nemesis wirelessly interfaced with by using direct electrical pulses that rerouted data streams into her system which allowed her to download the map of the base and to locate Cooper. Nemesis's systems were encrypted so heavily she had to slowly process the information as it was decrypted, scanned, and re-encrypted during download. After about 2 minutes, she had the map of the base and with it a possible location that Cooper could be via analysis of the base's communication archives. Taking into account that her target is the head of R&D and that there was a lab on the map labeled R&D Labs, there would be a high probability that her target might be there. In addition, the communication logs implied that Cooper would be in a location known to other Infecta units, narrowing down her search to Cooper's room or the labs. Weighing the options accordingly, her prior assumption had greater probability of being true. With the information loaded, she began to leave the Data Terminal.

Shinka Base - Infecta HQ

As Zero was finishing repairing what little damage was done, the base alarms went off. "What the hell?" He asked himself and then Brook's voice came into Zero's head, telling him to head towards the eastern area. Zero then equipped his gear and placed his gunblade onto his back and went up the hatch and out his room and.towards the eastern area. You can still see Zero's chest and arm wrapped up from earlier today.

R&D Labs - Shinka Knights HQ - Infecta Base

As soon as Jason gave the orders, the scientists and other Infecta scattered about the room with the utmost urgency. The Infecta that were tasked with unbolting the tables from the ground ran towards the toolboxes and grabbed power drills before running to the tables and taking out the bolts, filling the room with the whirring sounds of the drills. Meanwhile, two Infecta tasked with tampering with the ceiling fan grabbed a ladder and had already started to work on the fan's motor. If their calculations were correct, the fan would be able to put out twice as much air than before. As that was happening, seven of the Infecta hastily ran to each tool station, grabbing all the plasma torches they could carry before dumping them onto the table Jason was at, all while the remaining Infecta had donned their suits and grabbed their guns, readying themselves for battle.

Jason soon finished the EMP device, and once that was done, he began to modify the plasma torches, increasing the length of their superheated flame. If the worst came to pass, then they would cut the Ragnarocians out from their armor and kill them. After a few minutes had gone by, everyone was in position to fight the invaders. The tables were laid on their sides, acting like barricades, the Thermite had been installed into the ceiling fan, and everyone had a gun in their hands as they huddled behind the tables.

"Cooper, I need you to hide in one of the ventilation ducts until the conflict is over. If things go south, you'll be able to escape to another section of the base.", Jason said to Cooper.

R&D Labs - Shinka Knights HQ - Infecta Base

Up until this point Cooper had been hard at work checking all of the security cams in the area. Most of the fight seemed to be going on outside while there were many darkened areas in the halls of the base that had been disabled by the hacker from before. It seemed however that Cooper had bested the hacker, for now at least and the mysterious invader would be on it's own. Cooper decided not to switch on the lights knowing that it would make it easier for Zero to stealth his way straight to the enemy. Plus the less they thought Cooper was capable of the better.

The fight outside consisted of Brooks and a small number of infecta fending off a greater number of Moko. The moko's lack of metal in their armor made it difficult for Brooks to combat them until Cooper used his console to drop 4 dozen empty metal canisters that had been loaded in the recycling center. When Jason was finally prepared and he told Cooper to hide, it gave Cooper a look of disappointment. This was one of few rare moments when Cooper was able to make a real difference on the battlefield and now it was all over. Trusting that Jason knew what he was doing, Cooper complied and shut down his computer.

Before leaving however, Cooper went over to the wall and punched in a code for one of the prototype weapons they had been developing. One look and it was easy to identify. An assault rifle equipped with a fire, lightning, poison, and magnetism crystal was loaded with thirty armor piercing rounds. "This is an advanced version of an AUG assault rifle. Thirty rounds of ammo that will burn, zap,and poison the enemy with an acid like poison capable of corroding through our strongest armor in thirty seconds. all the while being magnetically pulled towards the enemy. there's only one clip because that's all you can use before the weapon starts to break down, melt or even explode. Don't waist it soldier." Without another word cooper quickly climbed into the air ducts above.

Shinka Knights IC

???

"Will Starla be alright?"
"She will be as long as she doesn't find out what's really about to happen."
"And if she does?"
A red haired woman stood in full combat armor leaning against the doorway. She pondered the question her parents had just asked and chose her answer carefully.
"...I won't let anything happen to my little sister. I will get her out before-"
Just then the colony's alarms sounded. The soldier looked out the window in disbelief. "Wha- we were supposed to have more time!"
In the near distance, a massive fireball billowed up from the explosion of a warhead.

***

Infecta Base
The alarms were still ringing in her ears, but there was something off about them as they were not the way she remembered them. That's when it dawned on the red-haired woman. Her eyes snapped open, back to reality. She glanced about the room with her emerald green eyes, which were met with darkness that was only broken by the slow pulse of red light of the base's emergency alarm system. "What...? An attack?" The sound of distant explosions from the base's defense systems confirmed her suspicions. "Who's attacking? Tainted? ...Ragnarok?"
Quickly getting out of bed, the woman grabbed her boots and a communicator. She was clothed in her "casual" wear which was comprised of a white tank top, black pants, and elbow and knee guards. As she prepared, she activated her communication device, asking on the first open channel she could "What's the current situation? Who's attacking us?" As she said this, she strapped on her weapon belt which held a plasma saber and two handguns before heading out the door. Once in the hallway, she noticed that the lights were out in the base for no apparent reason. "Ok this makes things interesting." She pulled out her black handgun and kept it low. She slowly made her way through the base by partially crouching and carefully checking what was around every corner.

***
Nemesis was making decent progress, navigating the base with the optimal path heading straight for the R&D labs.
"So far... nothing... I guess that's a good thing. Nemesis hasn't had to deal with any of the Infecta yet" Thought Starla as she activated her old data protection software that she had used as practice long ago. "And this should help my problems... slowly..." The program could only be described as a mess of cute little animations that performed a "clean-up" function. A 16 bit version of herself with a magic wand bounced onto the screen with a progress bar showing number of files cleaned up. "I'll never know what younger me was thinking..."

Infecta Base - Eastern Area

Zero was running towards where he was assigned to go to. "I should be near." He said and then a screen appeared in front of him indicating an ally approaching. Just then, Zero ran at an intersection and almost ran into the ally. "Zero?" A female voice asked. Zero looked at the person and recognized the person. "Ren? Why are you in this area?" He asked her. Ren has yellow hair and wearing a torn looking sailor uniform. "Caption told me to intercept what's here." Ren said as her face showed no emotion. "Perfect, let's go." Zero said and started running to the destination. Ren nodded and follows. Ren is a childhood friend of Zero's and shortly after becoming officers, they went to separate units and thanks to Ren's achievements during her missions, has became a private first class and earned the nickname 'Silent Lighting'.

A screen appeared in front of Ren and showed a female in white clothings and long blue hair. "Zero, that person isn't in Infecta data." Ren said as they stopped. Zero looked ahead on the screen and showed the same person. Zero takes his left hand and reaches over his right shoulder and takes out his Black Knight. "Be ready for anything." He said as he gives a serious look at Ren. Ren takes her right hand over her left shoulder and takes out her Yellow Paladin and nods and they ran towards the female. "Hey. Stop right there!" Zero said to the female as her places his left side towards the female pointing his gunblade. "Identify yourself." Ren said with her gunblade ready to fire as well.