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This article was written by ToaFairon. Please do not add to it without the writer's permission.
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| City of Gold | |
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| Story | |
| Series |
The Fairon Chronicles
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| Setting | |
| Date Set |
1.822 AET
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| Timeline | |
| Previous | |
| Next |
Rise and Fall
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City of Gold is a story in the Kronian Multiverse Storyline, chronicling the arrival of Fairon and his team on Arcturus Magna and the events that occur while they are in the titular city of gold. It is a direct sequel to Dark Future, its events set directly after those of the previous story. It details the adventures of Fairon and his team in the aftermath of the Temporal War, their journey towards Arcturus Magna and subsequent arrival there, as well as the events that unfold while the team are there.
Unlike Dark Future, City of Gold will be considerably less action-packed and tense. Rather, the story's focus is much more on the characters and their interactions with one another in the environment of a re-established Government of Arcturus Magna and a revitalised Galactic Council. But, though the characters get to know each other, and themselves, much better, something far more sinister lies underneath the neon billboards and beautiful Ziggurat-like temples of governance in the city of gold.
Story[]
Log Entry #875[]
"The great blow has been dealt.
His Empire has collapsed, though at great cost.
The final climactic battle at the summit of the Nui Tower of Time was truly a battle of the ages, the stakes higher than any battle I have ever seen. Yet, with the noble sacrifice of a brave, courageous Toa of Psionics, the team finally managed to defeat the corrupted, perverted and distorted incarnation of Temporus. This extraordinary feat not only brought about the instant collapse of the Temporal Empire, it also brought about the Restoration of the flow of Time.
At once, the Dark powers that once reigned over the universe, were forced to retreat to the Realm of Darkness.
With the Empire and its faux Imperial Council collapsed, the Xeler galaxy is slowly recovering from the dastardly consequences that the Paralysis had. The government of Arcturus Magna is reconstructing the great planet and its Biosphere-encased cities, while the Galactic Council is once again emerging from the depths of suppression to which it had been subjected.
Once again, Arcturus Magna is the stalwart against the Dark forces in the Xeler galaxy, and the Universe at large.
And yet, in spite of our great successes, I cannot help but fear He is still on the loose.
Although we have dealt a great blow to His forces, He is still formidable and at large. Where He is, I do not know, nor do I know what He is up to or what His next move will be in this deadly game. I fear He is hiding out in the shadows of the undercity, the great city's underbelly where deadlier forces are at work, undermining law and order, forever cast in a thick, dark fog by the skyscrapers and governmental temples that reach kilometres into the sky far above it.
Indeed, if I am to believe what I fear, He is now working from the inside.
The Galactic Council, though a strong association, is not always as formidable as it presents itself. Power-hungry corporations, a militarist space fleet and a rogue planet are still on the loose, and will not hesitate to make an alliance with Him, in order to make more gains in their quest for more power.
Contrary to what my team and the entire galaxy at this moment is believing, this is not the end of His shadowy reign, I fear.
Oh no.
It is only the beginning."
Prologue[]
Arcturus City, the planet of Arcturus Magna, 1822 AET
The sound of distant sirens and massive, neon-billboard commercials echoed throughout the sky of the one and only city on the icy, remote planet called Arcturus Magna.
Encased in a massive series of honeycomb shaped glass and reinforced Protodermis steel domes, this enormous megalopolis is the sole place on the entire planet which is habitable for anyone else besides Ko-Matoran.
In order to explore anything that lies beyond the Biosphere-encased cities, one required a highly specialised sort of armour, which includes a breathing apparatus and a specialised protection against the radiation from the distant blue dwarf star. The terrain was impossible to traverse, and unforgiving in climate and environment.
Indeed, despite the fact that the planet was the most economically strong and most densely populated planet of all of the Galactic Council members, its landscape and environment were actually the least forgiving. Endless plains of the coldest, irradiated snow pervaded the greater part of the planet's surface, only occasionally interrupted by a mountain ranges that were impossible to traverse.
If one were to travel through these irradiated plains on their own, chances are they would never be able to find any inhabited location for days, or even weeks on end, if travelling in the wrong direction.
This was the exact reason as to why the government of this icy cold planet had taken the task of building such an enormous megalopolis upon itself. Lying in the plains of an icy valley between two large mountain ranges, Arcturus City's location was strategically important, and enabled the city to not only expand upward, but also downward, deep into the subterranean that lay far beneath the pyramid, all around the enormous Energy Reactor that powered the entire city.
And it was exactly those subterranean parts that had served as the greatest source of trouble for the government.
Orange-hued eyes stare out of a clean window, staring out into the enormous city stretching out all around the enormous building the being was in.
The office was ornately decorated and beautiful, its walls made of beautifully decorated, symmetrically patterned Protodermis brass. The floor was made of the same material as the walls, though in a brick-like tile pattern as opposed to the decoratively patterned walls. The ceiling, finally, was made of an entirely black reflective Protodermis steel.
Light in the room was provided by massive lamps located within specialised tiles within the walls, as opposed to lights from the ceiling. This gave the room an almost temple-like feeling.
Aligning the walls were ancient bookshelves, filled to the brim with books, ranging from ancient guidance books from a time long gone, to the latest bestseller in the area of Arcturan literature. Indeed, the being who made this room his living quarter was clearly fond of books in whatever format and subject he could get his hands on.
The subjects of the books on the shelves were endless and incredibly varied. From ancient Combat Master training guidebooks, to books retelling the Kronian history, all of it was contained within this rather small library in this single office.
Amid the office, facing the Protodermis brass twin doors, stood a beautifully ornate, wooden desk, its sides clearly being hand-made by Le-Matoran woodworkers from elsewhere in Arcturus City.
The doors, not unlike the rest of the office, were beautifully ornate, too. Rather than simple doors with a handle, these were mechanised Protodermis brass doors made specifically for this office. Once connected, a sun-like pattern emerged on the doors, beautifully accentuating the presence of the twin doors even more.
Finally, at the back of the room, where the being was standing, an enormous window was situated, looking out over the city that stretched very far beyond the confines of the office.
The being calmly stood, staring at the city he had founded, the city of which he had been the President for the past several hundred years until that dreaded Paralysis hit. He remembered all too vividly how an angry Toa of Fire stormed into his office, followed by a squadron of creatures the ancient Combat Master had not seen since the Great Migration away from Infina Magna.
The Undead.
In the minds of Matoran and weaker-minded warriors, that one word was enough to instil fear in their hearts. Fear of death. Fear of rot.
Fear of the Undead.
Yet, to the being, the thought of those wretched, malevolent skeletal creatures of pure Darkness only meant anger. Fallen comrades from the days of the war.
He took another sip of his cup of Le-Matoran cherry tea, before he turned around at the sound of his doorbell ringing, signalling someone was at the other side of his door.
He sat down behind his desk, a beautifully decorated touch-screen computer suddenly unveiling itself out of the ornate wood. The being typed in several commands on the screen, activating the camera outside of the door of his office on-screen.
There, in the hallway, stood his green-armoured fellow Combat Master, the fellow founder of this very city.
"Ah, Acritus, do come in!"
The doors slid open, and the Toa of Air stepped inside calmly. He took a quick bow, before returning towards his stance.
"Sir," Acritus began calmly, "one of the captains of the Space Fleet guarding the atmosphere has informed me of something very peculiar".
The sitting Combat Master's interest was piqued. He sat upright in his chair and focused all of his attention on the green-armoured Toa that stood in front of him.
"Tell me more, Acritus, tell me more."
"Just today, during one of our daily officers' meetings, one of the Atmosphere Patrol officers informed me that, just days before the Fleet was officially reinstated, several beings reported sightings of the Titan-II battleship in the area around our atmosphere. When one of our officers went looking..." the Toa of Air took a deep breath, before continuing, "he went missing."
"He what?"
"He went missing, Filius," Acritus stated firmly. He grabbed his own tablet computer and, pressing a few commands, showed a photo of an area high above the cold atmosphere of the dark planet. In the distance, a rather large object could be seen.
It was a spaceship.
On its stern, a pair of enormous thrusters was mounted, as well as no less than four Trans-Warp nacelles, mounted onto the hull of the enormous, powerful vessel in an X-shape. Its five triple-barrelled high energy cannons atop the hull, alongside the three double-barrelled cannons on its bottom, were clearly visible in the picture, as were both the bridge atop the hull, and the hangar and radar bridge at its bottom.
Filius was shocked.
What would the Titan-II battleship have to do near Arcturus Magna, a planet where neither the battleship nor its captain were welcomed anymore. "Acritus," the Toa of Gravity began, "just what does this imply, do you think?"
"I," Acritus began, before continuing, "I fear Krataxus walks among us."
Chapter One[]
The surface of the large, icy planet far below gleamed in purplish and grey colours, the liquid Protodermis of some of its lakes beautifully reflecting the starlight of its two faraway parent stars; Arcturus A and Arcturus B, the white main sequence star and a yellow dwarf respectively. Its atmosphere was thin, but just thick enough to prevent any gases from escaping instantaneously.
Here, on the side now illuminated by daylight, high above the atmosphere, one could find one of the Arcturan Space Fleet's most important facilities; the space station known Galactic Council Space Station Starport-I, designated SP-I in official documents. Not only did Starport-I serve as the main headquarters of Arcturan terrestrial Space Fleet operations, it was also one of the Galactic Council Space Fleet's most important headquarters.
The so-called "port" for spaceships was extremely large; big enough to host at least a hundred battleships the size of the Titan-I. At its centre, an enormous spherical structure is situated, housing the most important command and housing facilities.
The structure was large enough to give those coming from afar the impression of being a small moon, rather than a mere space station.
Around its equatorial sides, the spherical structure was surrounded by a thick reinforced Protodermis steel ring, with six appendages coming out of the ring. At the end of each of those "arms", enormous disks were situated. These enormous disks served as the primary docks for the enormous fleet of battleships that was hosted in the large space station. Around them, one could see several cruisers and medium battleships docked, being prepared to be sent out into the galaxy once more.
A single blue eye stares at the viewscreen at the front end of the bridge, far away from the First Officer's chair in which the being is situated. On screen, the being only saw bright lines in the distance; stars that the graceful battleship was passing by.
The Titan-I was once again racing through Trans-Warp, on its way to Arcturus Magna.
Since the defeat of the Temporal Beast, the five warriors seated in the bridge had been travelling away from the Nui Tower of Time. The reason they were going to Arcturus Magna, was still largely unclear, except for the Toa of Light Fairon being told by a mysterious being to "find what he seeks" at the coordinates of Arcturus Magna.
Shadon, the silver, grey and black-armoured Toa did not always agree with the team's choice to head towards Arcturus Magna rather than Kraka Minor. To him, it would have seemed a more rational choice to head towards Turaga Herax first. But, after a short discussion and a democratic vote within the team, the decision to head towards Arcturus Magna was made.
Yet Shadon did not trust it.
As Jareroden had warned before he had died, the Darkness had not dissipated with the defeat of the Temporal Beast and his empire. In fact, judging by Fairon's statements with regards to the mysterious being, Darkness had only barely been pushed back by the defeat of the empire.
For Shadon it felt as though they were being lured into a trap.
Further down the aisle, a blue and silver-armoured Toa of Water was seated behind the scanner and radar operations consoles.
Aquila.
The Toa was silently staring at her radar and scanner workstation, staring at the number of coordinates that drew ever closer to the large planet of Arcturus Magna.
Despite the fact that the team had defeated the Temporal Beast, Aquila could not help but miss the Toa of Psionics Jareroden, and she felt ill at ease with his words that Darkness had not yet been defeated. Furthermore, Fairon's confrontation with a mysterious cloaked being further aroused suspicions for the Toa of Water that the mission was not over.
Oh no, it had only just started.
She looked at the coordinates screen, when suddenly an alarm on the screen went off. Then, before the Toa of Water could speak up to notify her captain, the ship's main computer stated the message for her.
"Attention, crew of the Titan-I: we are now nearing the selected destination at coordinates X122 dot 31233, Y380 dot 02341, and Z123 dot 32534. I repeat: we are now nearing the selected destination at coordinates X122 dot 31233, Y380 dot 02341, and Z123 dot 32534. Please prepare for imminent exit of Trans-Warp space."
As soon as the computer ceased talking, the enormous Titan-I battleship was thrown out of Trans-Warp space at once. There, in the distance, the warriors aboard the bridge of the battleship could now see two planetary objects straight ahead of them.
Arcturus Magna and its moon, Arcturus Mina.
Arcturus Magna was, as its name implied, a magnificent planet, rocky and covered in snow. Its surface was purplish and greyish in colour, with several large lakes being lit up by the light of its distant two stars.
Arcturus Mina, the lesser of the two, was a rocky, snow-white moon, entirely covered in white rock and snow. The moon served as the primary source from which the Arcturans could get their reinforced Protodermis steel, as well as the Arcturans' main industrial plant. After all, being not on the Arcturan surface but rather its moon, the moon's icy surface and lack of an atmosphere made it easy for Arcturan industries to settle.
Two eyes of a fiercely green hue stared at the magnificent view that lay ahead of the ship the being was in. His mouth was wide open in awe, as the Toa of Light could not believe what he was seeing. A large planet, and its moon, dead ahead. The planet was not Estron, and thus not as dangerous or as hazardous as the desert planet.
"So," Fairon muttered, "this is Arcturus Magna."
"Yep," Fyxan nodded, walking towards the viewscreen to stand next to Fairon.
"The planet of the Galactic Council. The planet where it all happened after Dracia fell," Fyxan continued in a proud, yet somewhat sad tone. The Combat Master felt proud of the icy planet's management, yet missed the homeliness of his former planet Dracia. Though Arcturus Magna had been hospitable towards him and the other Dracian refugees, their conditions before the megalopolis of Arcturus City was built had been...drastic, to say the least.
The Arcturan government still had not managed to completely eradicate poverty within the former Dracian populace. Rather, it had driven most of the poorer sections of the former planet's populace to the underground, a move which is regarded by many former Dracians as a crime. It often enraged the warrior of Light.
Fairon then turned around, slowly walking down the aisle towards his chair, before finally sitting in the captain's chair at the back end of the massive bridge.
Lev, the green and silver-armoured Toa of Air, sat in his communications station. His friendly green eyes were staring at the viewscreen in front of him. It had been so long since the Toa of Air had last been at this planet, before Acritus and Filius sent him away to Kraka Minor on what they deemed a "very special mission".
A very special mission it had been indeed.
For Lev, the mission was mired by setbacks and disaster. First, the team's failure to actually install the Crystal of Time when it was necessary, and the betrayal by Kratus. Not too long afterward, the failure of the Estronian "resistance" movement he had helped set up hit the Toa team heavily. Then, the heavy mission at Ashatan and Fairon nearly sacrificing himself in order to allow the team to find the clue to reversing the Paralysis. And finally, their second mission to the Nui Tower of Time, and their defeat of the Temporal Beast after a noble Toa of Psionics, Jareroden, courageously sacrificed himself so that the others could live on.
For Lev, all of it had been the hardest missions he'd ever had, harder than the evacuation of Dracia right as the planet was collapsing even. Even as a trained Combat Master, the hordes of Undead creatures sometimes overwhelmed him.
Yet, the team had managed to persevere despite the adverse conditions that had plagued them since the very start of their mission. This perseverance, this success, had made the Toa of Air, the Combat Master, very proud of his comrades, even though he'd had his sincerest doubts about Fairon's Combat skills. All of his doubts had been proven wrong, there and then, at the Nui Tower of Time.
Suddenly, the Toa of Air received an incoming communications call on his workstation. The message on the workstation's computer screen read; "Notification: Incoming call on main communication channel".
Lev turned around to face Fairon, who was calmly sitting in the captain's chair at the back end of the bridge.
"Fairon"
"What's up?"
"We have an incoming call on the main communications channel, shall I activate it on the main communications screen?"
Fairon nodded at the Toa of Air, "do so."
Pressing several buttons on the main communications console, Lev allowed for the main screen to activate. At once, a large screen slid out of the ceiling in front of the viewscreen, allowing all of the Toa in the bridge to see the screen. Swiftly, Lev pressed another button to activate the screen.
"Activating screen now."
"Broadcast it ship-wide please."
"Aye."
At once, the large communications screen activated, revealing what appeared to be a Le-Matoran sitting in a captain's chair not dissimilar to that of Fairon's. His armour was lime green with hints of darker green, his mask a beautifully lime green great Miru, and his eyes were tinted in a friendly purple manner.
"Good day, crew of this unidentified battleship vessel," the Matoran began in a stern tone, "my name is captain Gratiko of the Arcturan Space Fleet vessel Galaxy-II of the Stellar Patrol office. You can refer to me as Grat from here on out. You have just entered domestic territory of the planet of Arcturus Magna inside a heavily-armed, unidentified, Trans-Warp capable vessel." The Matoran took a brief pause, before continuing, once again sternly, "as such, we of the vessel Galaxy-II have been sent out to patrol your location and see what you are up to and why you are here. It is our responsibility to ensure no enemy vessels suddenly enter, especially after the recent suspected arrival of an enemy ship."
"Enemy ship? What enemy ship?" Fyxan inquired with Grat, who responded sternly "we unfortunately are not allowed to reveal that information to you."
"Now," the green-armoured Matoran began even more sternly, grabbing a notebook and a pencil, "please state in the following order; your own names in the order of rank on-board of the vessel, the name of your vessel, and your purpose here in Arcturan domestic terrestrial space."
Fairon began, "my name's Fairon, and the vessel I command as its captain is the Titan-I battleship. I was chosen by Turaga Herax to command this battleship on our mission to the Nui Tower of Time, for he believed me to be a 'very special Toa'. Besides that, though, I do not exactly know where I come from," to which Fyxan added, "my name is Fyxan, first officer of this battleship. The Titan-I battleship was once part of the Arcturan Space Fleet before being sent out on a special mission of which I was a part. I also used to be a lieutenant of the Arcturan Law Enforcement Organisation, the ALEO. Please inquire this with Acritus before further notice."
Afterwards, Shadon continued "my name's Shadon. Chief engineer of the Titan-I here. I was responsible for designing this vessel on the planet of Dracia on the orders of Dracian king Hendrax, before the planet disappeared."
The Matoran nodded, still looking down at his notebook and writing eagerly. "Go on."
Aquila rose from her seat at the radar and scanner workstation. "My name," she began, "is Aquila. Former healer of the Arcturus Ga-University of Healing and former healer of the Dracian University of Healing. Since the fall of Dracia, I served as a healer at the Arcturus Ga-University and, not too much later, I served as part of this team on board of this vessel."
Grat nodded quietly, and looked up from his notebook again.
Lev rose from his seat.
"Name's Lev. Alongside Fyxan, I was an apprentice of Hendrax and one of the chief orchestrators of the escape from Dracia as Darkness returned to the once great planet. I now serve as chief communicator on this ship and secondary engineer below Shadon."
The small green-armoured Matoran nodded once again, and then looked up from his notebook before looking down once more to count the number on his notebook and the number on the bridge of the Titan-I. He then handed his notebook to another Matoran in the bridge of the Galaxy-II and turned to face the Toa in the bridge again.
"Well," Grat began, "as it seems you are the crew of the Titan-I vessel, a former vessel of the Arcturan Space Fleet, as duly noted by Fyxan. Please do tell me, how did you acquire this vessel?"
"We were ordered to use it by Filius and Acritus before we departed for Kraka Minor, where we were awaited by Turaga Herax," Fyxan stated sternly. The Matoran nodded in response.
"Very well. I will establish contact with Starport-I and request them to contact Filius to verify the claims you are making to me. Until then, you are requested to await here. The Galaxy-II will arrive within a moment's notice. Thank you and please, stand by."
As soon as Grat finished talking, the main screen in the bridge of the Titan-I turned off once again, leaving the warriors in the bridge silently awaiting the next call from the Matoran captain.
Shortly afterwards, Fairon could see a new vessel appearing ahead of the bow of his own spacecraft. It was slightly smaller than the Titan-I, and carried only three double-barrelled energy cannons as opposed to the four the Toa's spacecraft was carrying. It had two Trans-Warp nacelle wings, one on top of its hull and one on the bottom, both near its main thruster at the back. The vessel was coloured in a similar colour scheme to the Titan-I; a greyish main hull, with a red bottom of said hull.
Though the Titan-I carried three double-barrelled small energy cannons on the bottom of its hull, the Galaxy-II carried two single-barrelled energy cannons on its bottom. And, much like the Titan-I, the Galaxy-II had a large bridge at the exact same spot underneath the normal bridge as the Toa's vessel; the command station of the hangar and the location of most of the shield generators.
Also, not unlike the Toa's vessel, this Arcturan Space Fleet vessel had a large number of small energy guns as broadsides for usage in close combat, though it had only 30 on each side as opposed to the 50 the Titan-I had.
Judging by the size of the vessel, its purpose was not like that of the Titan-I. It did not engage in large space battles against enemy battleships. Much rather, these slightly smaller, more agile spacecraft served as stellar patrol vessels as well as scout vessels that would scout ahead of the fleet. As such, its main thruster was the only part of the ship that had not been scaled back; it was as large as that of the Titan-I and, due to its smaller size, this allowed the smaller spacecraft to be slightly faster in non-Trans-Warp flight.
A loud calling signal resounded through the beautiful Protodermis brass office in which the Toa of Gravity was sitting. He pressed several buttons on the large tablet touchscreen in front of him, revealing what the call was about.
"Attention: Incoming call from Starport-I."
Without giving it a second thought, the silver and black-armoured Toa of Gravity picked up his communicator.
"Yes Starport-I, this is Filius you are speaking to."
"Sir Filius. A rather large, armed spacecraft known as the Titan-I has just entered terrestrial Arcturan space without prior notice. A Stellar Patrol ship commanded by captain Grat just notified us of the existence of this Titan-I battleship and we believe it may have something to do with the recent appearance of the Titan-II."
"How strange," Filius began, before continuing "just who are the crew on-board of this Titan-I? I do believe I sent out Fyxan and several others with said vessel to Kraka Minor on a very special mission."
"Well sir," the voice on the other side of the line began, "Fyxan is among them."
Filius nodded.
"Right," he began, taking a brief pause before continuing in a stern tone, "I want you to bring them and their vessel into Starport-I at once. Once they are there, I want you to send them in a shuttle down here to the City, where I will personally be awaiting them. Their mission has been a resounding success if they have managed to turn up here after all this time."
"Roger that, sir."
The screen on Lev's communications console once again gave off the message of an incoming call. The Toa of Air turned around to face the rest of his team. "We've got another call from them again," he began, to which Fairon replied sternly "activate it on the mainscreen once more."
Lev nodded and, once again pressing the same buttons as before, activated the main screen once more, to reveal the green Miru Grat was wearing.
"Well," Grat began, "we have just received our orders from Filius himself. We would like to request you and your entire crew to follow our vessel. We will be heading towards the space station known as Starport-I or SP-I, where your spacecraft will be docked and repaired to the fullest of its potential. You will be leaving your spacecraft behind and sent aboard some shuttles to head towards the surface of Arcturus Magna, where you will be welcomed by Filius. Please do follow our vessel now."
Fairon nodded simply.
"Will do."
Grat smiled, and afterwards, the mainscreen in front of the viewscreen once again deactivated, before finally folding into the ceiling once more.
Fairon turned towards Shadon and Fyxan.
"Shadon, Fyxan, do as he says and follow the Galaxy-II towards that space station."
"Alright!"
"Roger."
Shadon started pressing several buttons, before finally pushing the throttle of the graceful spacecraft to its maximum. At once, the majestic spacecraft started moving in the direction of the Galaxy-II, which had already turned around and was already speeding back towards the planets.
There, far ahead of them, a large, ball-like structure started appearing. At its equator, a massive Protodermis steel ring enclosed it, with six arms emanating from said ring. At the end of each arm was situated a large disk-like structure, at which Fyxan could clearly see several spacecraft being docked there.
Arcturus Magna...he thought, staring at the purplish and greyish-hued planet far below the enormous, majestic space station known as Starport-I.
Oh how long it has been since I have last been here.
Chapter Two[]
Eyes.
Eyes.
A pair of fierce, rage-filled orange-reddish eyes was staring through a stained glass window. Their reflection was clearly visible to the owner of this pair of eyes, as he was staring through the stained glass window at what lay beyond, far away from the being.
All around him, no matter where he looked, his surroundings were only sometimes illuminated by the bright neon lights from the buildings and streets that lay above and below. Starlight was unheard of in the Underworld, and thusly, the distinction between day and night had faded into nothing. Only the numbers on the clock would accurately portray what the time was.
If the clock had worked, though.
Since the Universal Paralysis had occurred, The Claw had not taken the time to repair the clock in the decrepit apartment that was supposed to be his lair, deep underneath the surface of Arcturus Magna and deep in the underbelly of Arcturus City.
The city's enormous netherworlds were sprawling in all possible directions.
Wherever the dark red and orange-armoured Toa looked, all he could see was an unending stream of neon lights, flashy commercials and the occasional airship. Much like the commercial billboards that littered nearly every building, including the one they were in, the airships were almost omnipresent here in the Underworld, despite the fact that there was very little space for them to manoeuvre in.
On every side of the airship now passing by him, the being could see a never-ending stream of commercials beamed onto the bright, neon-lit surface of the screens on its sides.
Smiling Matoran.
Smiling Toa.
"Get your Action Transport MotoFlyer MF-22 now! No longer will you need drive your MotoWheels across the tediously busy highways of the upperworld, no! No longer stuck in transit while on your way to your work Sector! From now on, with the Action Transport MotoFlyer MF-22, you can fly all across the city in no time at all! And, costing you only 25.000 credits at once, and being fully operated by an internal Energy Core, you will never need to worry about recharging the fuel of your old MotoWheels ever again!
Get in line with the transport revolution! Join the amazing amount of beings who have already ordered Action Transport's latest! Order now on our website, aww.actiontransport.net!"
As the voice resounded and echoed through the empty space between the Toa and the space where the airship was flying, the screen showed a huge array of images. The MF-22 was shown as a single-pilot, dual-passenger, triple-engine vehicle. Its main twin thrusters were mounted on each side, while a small thruster at its bottom ensured it remained suspended in the air if it were not going at full speed. Behind the cockpit, another thruster was situated.
The dark Toa of Fire felt alienated.
This was far from what he had seen during his reign. Though he knew of similar advertisement practices on Estron, he was not aware of their omnipresence on Arcturus Magna.
Ever since he had arrived on Arcturus Magna alongside a party of others, Krataxus could not help but feel ill at ease in the Underworld. He was, after all, still a criminal who the government was looking for.
Yet, his most-wanted status was one of many things that were bothering the ever-so-proud yet ever-so-anxious dark Toa.
If he were to believe his master, Fairon had arrived at Arcturus Magna shortly.
"It's gruesome, is it not?"
The Toa was shocked out of his intense concentration, and turned around in surprise to face the being who had just said that.
Velnax.
"Well," the Toa began slightly anxiously, "hello Velnax!"
"Interrupted you?" Velnax laughed.
The large being's deep green eyes were piercing in colour; Krataxus nearly did not dare to look him in the eye, for whenever he did, he felt as though the Infinus of Fire could see exactly what the Toa was thinking.
"It..." the Toa continued, "it's slightly overwhelming to be here, in this place." Krataxus pointed at the world beyond the window.
Though they were nominally on the fifty-seventh floor of a fairly high apartment building, they were still a great many kilometres below the surface of the City itself.
"It is," Velnax confirmed, before continuing ever so slowly, "I understand where you come from, Krataxus. Though the City of Arcturus is a technological marvel, it has become too self-obsessed. It wallows in its hollow commerciality and it protects a goalless, hollow ideal that means nothing to anyone but its highest elites. With no goal but to serve the city's rulers, the Matoran slavishly go to work every day, even down here. Hmmph, I am fairly certain that many Matoran could easily fend for themselves. After all, what do they know about the political trivialities of the upperworld?"
Political trivialities of the upperworld? It made Krataxus think. What trivialities would Velnax be pointing out? the Toa thought to himself.
"In case you wonder," Velnax suddenly broke the silence again, "the President, Filius, is all but completely incapable of fighting the injustices of this world."
He really can read thoughts...Krataxus thought to himself silently, listening intently to Velnax' rambling.
"He...he believes he fights for justice, yet all he does is sit in his office, high above the common beings, safe in that enormous fortress of his. He is disillusioned and alienated, as much as he ever was. Even before the War, he had been like this. Too conservative in his beliefs, and too rigid to even be reasoned with, Filius never saw the disaster he would inevitably bring about by seeking to destroy our cause."
Velnax took a deep breath, clearly frustrated by the attitudes of his fellow former Combat Master.
Finally, after a long pause, the imposing Infinus continued, "though Filius' intentions may be the best, he is but a relic of a lost age that never was. A Toa so stuck in his futile attempts to bring back some nonexistent "glorious past" that he has become blind to the problems of the present."
"What do we do, to stop him?" Krataxus inquired honestly, to which the Infinus of Fire simply responded, "the only way, by which we can stop him, I fear..."
The red, black- and silver-armoured Infinus of Fire turned to face the window, his green eyes staring intently into the vast stretches of technology that lay beyond the glass.
"Is to kill him."
The sound of machinery clanging and working could be heard throughout the immense hangar inside of one of the six disk-like hangars of the space station, Starport-I. To the left and right of the large Galaxy-II vessel, large teams of Matoran workers were tirelessly working and operating machinery, constantly repairing and rebuilding parts of vessels that were docked here at the impressive space station.
Gratiko walked out of his vessel slowly, entering the hangar where he had once begun his work for the Arcturan Space Fleet. On the other side of the hangar, he saw how the Titan-I battleship was being hauled in by several clamps, operated by yet more Matoran workers.
Finally, the large, old battleship came to a standstill in the middle of the hangar, and a computerised voice announced "New vessel docked."
The captain of the Galaxy-II stared at the battleship's bridge for several moments, hoping to be able to take a peek at what was happening inside. Shortly after, the cargo gate on the side of the Titan-I slid open slowly, before a bridge slid out of the hull until it finally reached the ground of the hangar.
Out of the impressive, old vessel, came a white- and golden-armoured Toa of Light, wearing a golden great Kanohi Kualsi. His impressive green eyes were piercing as he stared around him, taking in his new surroundings eagerly.
The Toa of Light was followed by yet another golden- and white-armoured being. This being had, peculiarly enough, a single blue eye. His other eye, though blue in colour, was a cybernetic replacement of his original. He was slightly shorter and thinner than the Toa of Light had been, but was no less formidable a warrior. In fact, he was one of only two Combat Masters on the team, alongside the Toa of Air.
After the two beings of Light, a bulky Toa of Iron slowly walked out of the hangar. His eyes were a fiercely orange hue which seemed to hide a certain smartness inherent in many engineers around these parts. The Toa of Iron was intently analysing the surrounding hangar. His armour was black, silver and metallic-grey. His mask was a great Kanohi Miru in the same metallic grey colour, and on his back, he had a pair of wings installed.
Next to the Toa of Iron walked his fellow engineer. In stark contrast to the Toa of Iron, however, this engineer was not at all bulky or muscular. Rather, this Toa of Air was thin, lean and appeared to be incredibly agile in movements. He, too, was wearing a great Kanohi Miru. His armour was lime-green, a darker shade of green, and silvery in colour, and his green eyes hid the wisdom of a Combat Master.
Finally, after the rest had walked out, a black- and blue-armoured Toa of Water walked out, her caring green eyes staring intently ahead of her, hiding a certain kind of sadness. Before she walked out of the ship, she stood still to take a deep breath, taking it all in. The hair protruding at the back of her head was long and silky black in colour, and she was wearing a great Kanohi Faxon.
The five beings strode through the hangar towards the location where the Le-Matoran was calmly awaiting them amid the many ships. He awaited the Toa team with open arms, the look on his face friendly as he stared at the team that stood in front of him.
"Welcome!" he spoke to the Toa team, "welcome aboard Starport-I, main headquarters of the Arcturan Space Fleet and currently, main headquarters of the Galactic Council Space Fleet, also known as the GCSF."
He smiled at the Toa.
"Thank you, thank you, sir Gratiko," Fyxan said, extending his hand for a greeting. "It is a pleasure to be back here, and it is a pleasure to be back near Arcturus Magna. It has been a long time."
The Le-Matoran smiled.
"It sure has, Fyxan," he looked at the rest, "come along, I will take you to our onboard dining facilities and, afterwards, will take you to the shuttle bay from where you will finally be departing to the surface of the planet itself in some hours."
The Le-Matoran then proceeded to walk towards the exit of the immense, disk-shaped hangar.
Shadon's mouth was wide open, he could not believe the amount of machinery he was seeing there and then within the hangars of Starport-I. Wherever he looked, he saw machines of some sorts being operated by Matoran engineers, working on a starship somewhere or other. To his left and to his right, the hangar was almost filled with the gigantic vessels, some of which were almost as large as the Titan-I itself.
The Toa and their Matoran escort arrived at a fairly large Protodermis steel door; large enough for small cargo carriages to come through. The Matoran proceeded to walk towards a small console that was situated on a small steel pole to the left of the door. He typed in a string of commands and passwords, pressed several keys on the keyboard, and then pressed the "enter" button, after which the large steel door slid open gracefully.
On the other side of the steel door, the Toa were greeted by a fairly large hallway. To their left and right, large Protodermis steel crates were situated, full of supplies for the vessels of the space fleet.
"Here," Grat began, taking a turn to the left at a cross-junction, "we are now in the central ring system of Starport-I. This is where all cargo is transported to and from the different hangars and even to the central command facilities themselves."
He took a brief pause before adding, "from here on out, we will be moving utilising this Action Transport MotoTransporter MT-11."
The Le-Matoran pointed at a fairly large carriage with two wheels at the front and six wheels at the back. It had a single driver's seat, in which the Matoran seated himself, and eight seats behind it. The driver's seat and wheels underneath it were placed on a component of the vehicle that was held together with its back part by a joint, enabling the frontal part to make turns and the back to follow along.
Aquila seated herself in the MT-11's seat, with Fairon sitting to her right and Shadon to her left. After the mission, the Toa of Water had been rather sleepy, and was still missing Jareroden after all this time. She looked at the ground, as a tear fell from her green eye.
"Aquila," Shadon began, "you alright?"
The Toa of Water attempted to nod, but burst into tears as soon as she tried to speak.
"I just miss Jareroden," she sobbed loudly. The Le-Matoran at the front end of the vehicle stopped what he was doing to turn around and face the Toa sitting behind him.
"What's going on?"
"It's...a long story," Fyxan began, "one of our teammates sacrificed himself in the final battle against the Temporal Empire. He was her lover..."
"I...I'm so very sorry."
Fyxan smiled at the Le-Matoran, his eyes clearly watery.
"Thank you."
Fairon, though he had remained silent, still felt as terrible as he had ever been during their previous mission. Though he was in orbit around Arcturus Magna, he had heard nothing with regards to Krataxus just yet. All he had heard was Gratko slipping up and telling the Toa about "an enemy ship having recently been sighted."
He felt hopeless. With both Jareroden and Krataxus gone, what could he possibly be looking for on this planet if it were not Krataxus? He could only help but wonder.
As soon as Aquila had stopped sobbing too heavily, Gratko got back into his seat at the front of the vehicle, typed in a password on its control console, and turned on the vehicle's engine. He then grabbed the steering wheel and hit full throttle, after which the vehicle started to move fairly quickly through the enormous ring system of the fleet's headquarters.
The hallways of the ring system were fairly large and highly impressive state of the art technology. There were three levels upon which beings were operating. On the ground level, the Toa team and the Matoran were driving in the carriage. One floor above that, on Protodermis steel walkways that were hung to the sides and centre of the hall, beings were pushing cargo about. Conversations could occasionally be heard between two Matoran who were part of a space fleet crew. Judging by the content of these, Aquila guessed that the upper portions of these hallways were most likely the sleeping quarters of crews not on a mission at that time.
Finally, with the eight-wheeled MT-11 coming to a halt, Gratiko started speaking again. "Here we are!" the Le-Matoran exclaimed enthusiastically before dismounting from his seat. The engine of the carriage deactivated itself, and the Toa team could get off the vehicle too.
"Follow me," Grat began, urging the Toa to follow where he was going.
They stopped once more at a fairly large Protodermis steel door. This time, there were two more Matoran standing guard. Their armours were the same white and grey colours, and they were both wielding a sword and an energy blaster.
Before Grat could enter the room, the two guards blocked his access using their blades.
"Commander Gratko," the guard on the left began, "please state to us the identity of the beings you have brought with you."
Gratiko complied, replying "from left to right, we have Fyxan, a Combat Master and special agent of the Law Enforcement Organisation; Fairon, Toa of Light of unknown origin, a warrior who was, according to the others, chosen to be the captain of the Titan-I; Aquila, Toa of Water and healer, former healer at the Arcturus Ga-University of healing sciences; Shadon, Toa of Iron and former engineer of the Royal Dracian Shipworks, and Lev, Toa of Air, former Combat Master and a former engineer at top-secret GCSF facilities."
The guards looked at each other in silence, then looked at the group that stood in front of them.
"A Toa of Light of unknown origin?" the guard on the left asked the Le-Matoran, who nodded in response.
"His origin, according to himself, remains as yet unknown. Perhaps he can elaborate on it himself?"
Before the Le-Matoran finished his sentence, however, one of the guards stepped towards the Toa of Light and ordered him to stand apart from the group.
"Now," the guard on the right, still standing next to the door, began, "the rest of the group are allowed inside the facilities of Starport-I to receive dinner, and a shuttle ride to the surface."
The guard paused briefly.
"As for Fairon, he will be taken towards a specialised facility elsewhere inside this station where his energy signatures will be measured. Once that is done, we will decide further on whether or not Fairon is allowed to head further into the station and, afterwards, to the surface down below."
"No!" Aquila yelled in protest at the guard, "Fairon's either coming with us, or we're staying here!"
"I am sorry, Toa," the guard on the left, now back at his position, began, "but we cannot allow you to remain here while Fairon is here, too. Orders are orders."
The Le-Matoran nodded in silence.
"I'm sorry, friends," he began in a saddened tone, "but, like he says, orders are orders. If Fairon is ordered to remain on the station, that means he will remain here. My orders are to get you all fit and in shape, and then take you to the shuttle bay, from which you will then be transported down to the surface below. I got these orders from Filius himself, so I have no authority to change these orders in the slightest."
The Le-Matoran looked at the faces of the Toa team in front of him. Fyxan was looking baffled, Shadon's eyes were filled with suspicion, and Aquila was sobbing in Lev's arms. Fairon himself silently stood there, though his facial expression revealed he, too, was not too pleased with the decision.
The Toa of Light turned towards the rest of his team.
"Shadon, Aquila, Fyxan, Lev," he began silently, "do as he says. I will remain here for as long as I have to," before Fairon could continue speaking, however, Aquila loudly shouted "but Fairon, don't!"
The Toa of Light looked down, his eyes watery.
"Trust me," he looked Aquila in her eyes, "I will do everything in my power to make sure the personnel of this facility will pay for halting my mission to Arcturus Magna."
Aquila nodded silently.
"Come on, come on! We don't have all time I'm afraid!" the guardian on the left side of the door shouted at Gratiko and the Toa team behind him. In response, the Le-Matoran quickly turned towards the Toa team one more time.
"We are leaving. I'm sorry Fairon."
"It's...okay."
With those last words being said, Grat turned around, and the guards opened the large door ahead of him. The small Miru-wearing Le-Matoran then urged for the rest of the Toa team to follow him. "Follow me, friends!" he shouted in a clearly faked happy tone, before finally leading the way into the door.
When Fairon tried to follow the rest of his team, the guards suspended his access to the hallways utilising their spears.
"You are coming with us!" a throaty, thickly accented voice shouted from across the hallway.
Standing further across the hallway of the large space station, were a trio of Matoran scientists clearly there to pick Fairon up.
The one standing in the middle, clearly the tallest, walked up to Fairon first. His armour was white and silver, clearly upgraded from the rest, and his eyes were icy blue. He spoke in a thick accent, and the tone of his voice was rather pushy to say the least.
"Good day sirrr Fairon! I am doctor Liako, main doctor aboard of this magnificent space station, and personally responsible for scanning a being's energy signatures alongside my two assistants here," he spoke loudly, before offering the Toa of Light a handshake. The two shook hands, and Fairon smiled awkwardly.
"Name's Fairon," he began in a rather awkward tone, "but you probably know why I'm here already, ha ha."
Liako laughed loudly. A clearly forced, throaty laugh.
"I sure do Fairon! I sure do! Oh, by the way, please do meet my colleagues, as well!" the rather large Ko-Matoran urged the two Matoran standing next to him forward to face the Toa of Light.
The one standing to the left of Liako offered his hand to the Toa of Light first, his movements appearing relaxed. The look on his face was rather sleepy, and his eyes though half-closed, were a friendly green hue. He smelled somewhat like some of the dens in Estron, making Fairon wonder what a doctor like this was doing at such a space station. He was wearing a silver Kanohi Miru, and his armour was a gunmetal hue that was roughly the same as Shadon's. He was the smallest of the three.
"My name," the Fe-Matoran mumbled slowly, "is doctor Miopat, I'm one of the assistants of doctor Liako and the one who operates the energy field scanners."
Fairon smiled at the small Fe-Matoran doctor, who smiled broadly at the Toa of Light, before walking back to his spot next to Liako. Finally, the doctor to the right of Liako appeared.
A white and blue-armoured Ga-Matoran, bigger than Miopat, but slightly smaller than the Ko-Matoran doctor himself. She reached out her hand to the Toa of Light in front of her.
"My name is Renza, former healer of the Ga-University down below, and responsible for checking and comparing the data of your energy signature to that of other known energy signatures! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
For the first time since he had seen the three doctors, Fairon felt somewhat homely. The Ga-Matoran sounded far more friendly than Miopat or, worse, Liako, had been to the Toa of Light. The Ga-Matoran and Toa of Light shook hands, before she once again returned to her position to the left of the Ko-Matoran doctor.
"Right, Fairon! Follow us please!" the large doctor insisted the Toa, before turning around to walk through the large corridors of Starport-I.
Taking a turn to the left, the four beings were now situated in front of a fairly small Protodermis steel door. To Fairon's annoyance, two Matoran guards were once again posited to the left and right of the door, though they were far more silent than the other two had been.
"Guards, please let us through! We are heading to the energy scanning lab at this moment, the situation is of utmost urgency!" Liako screamed at the two guards. The guard on the right side of the door then turned around to press several commands onto a command console, before pressing enter to open the door, revealing a spiral staircase leading both upward and downward.
The Ko-Matoran stormed down the spiral staircase almost as soon as the door had opened, with the Ga-Matoran rushing to keep up with him.
The Fe-Matoran, in rather stark contrast with his two fellow doctors, was slow and highly relaxed, and slowly walked down the stairway, with Fairon following him.
Finally arriving several floors below, the Ko-Matoran had already opened the next door for the Fe-Matoran and the Toa of Light, and was impatiently standing in the doorway. On his left wrist, he had a wristband with a highly advanced wristwatch on it, which the doctor kept checking almost incessantly.
"Come come, Miopat and Fairon! We do not have all day to undertake these essential research activities!" he shouted at the two, who were now finally coming at the bottom of the staircase.
The room Fairon was led into consisted of two separated sections. One of these was what appeared to be a control room, with consoles lining the walls left and right. On the walls to the right, Fairon could also see several desks filled with papers analysing the energy field signatures of a myriad of beings. To his left, the Toa could see a door that separated the two sections, as well as a window through which one could peek from the control room into the other section.
Underneath the window, several control panels were situated, displaying all kinds of data Fairon could not fully comprehend.
As soon as he walked much further into the room, the circular door that led to the stairway was closed.
"Fairon!" Liako nearly shouted at the Toa of Light, who was thrown back in shock. "You are to move yourself here into this room through this door!" the doctor urged the Toa of Light, pointing at the now-opened door into the other section of the room.
"What are you going to do with me while I'm there?" the Toa inquired to the Matoran doctors. Renza looked up at Fairon, her friendly orange eyes piercing deep into his green eyes.
"The room you are to be led into is the scanner itself. From these consoles, doctor Miopat and I will be operating the scanner, while doctor Liako will be asking you some questions about yourself, the history of your life, and how you came to be here. Is that clear?"
Fairon nodded.
"As clear as an azure blue sky, ma'am," the Toa of Light nodded, before finally taking a step into the room on the other side of the door.
Though it was of exactly the same proportions as the room on the other side, the scanning room was entirely empty, save for a round platform located in its exact middle. Judging by its appearance, Fairon estimated that must be where he should stand, and stood on the platform. As he walked towards the platform, the door was closed and locked, leaving the Toa trapped in the room.
The window was completely darkened from Fairon's side, giving him no chance of seeing what was happening on the other side in the laboratory. The rest of the walls in the small scanning room were littered with enormous lamps, brightly illuminating the scanning room. In each corner, the scanning devices were located on hydraulic machinery, enabling them to scan up the energy field and its signature of every being up, down, left, right, forward and backward on all axes.
"Very good Fairon!" When put through a speaker of such low quality, Liako's voice sounded louder, fuzzier and more annoying than it had ever sounded before.
"I want you to answer each question honestly and in as much detail as you possibly can, are you ready?"
Fairon simply nodded in response.
"Good!"
Fairon heard the sound of the machinery in the corners starting to move, before finally noticing that the scanners were being turned on. Before he could focus on much more, however, the silence was once again interrupted by Liako's now annoyingly loud voice.
"Now, Fairon, can you tell us where you came from?"
The white and golden-armoured Toa stood silently in the middle of the room, looking at the ground. Finally, having found the answer, he looked back up and faced the window confidently.
"As far as I know, my origins are as yet completely unknown besides the fact that I was once found on Kraka Minor by a Toa named Kratus, now Krataxus. I have no memory of before that moment, except for falling down into a blackened abyss, and a loud scream. How I came to Kraka Minor, I do not know."
"Very well...noted! Can you tell us some more about this blackened abyss, this scream?"
The Toa of Light concentrated himself extremely, trying to remember more details about the fall into the abyss. He then looked up and shook his head. "Nope, can't remember much else besides the falling and the loud, despaired scream."
"Very well...How do you know your name was Fairon?"
That last question struck the Toa of Light. How did he know that Fairon was his real name? He looked at the ground once again, attempting to concentrate himself just on what it had been that made him know he was called Fairon.
And he gave up.
"I would not know. All I remember in the dreams of the falling and the screaming, was hearing, faintly, something that sounded like 'Fairon' being screamed. I never had too much memories beyond that, so I cannot know if I heard something wrong, or if that was really what I said there and then."
"Very well! You have answered all your questions, please stand by for the scanning of your energy field's signature now!"
The sound of machinery clanged and ringed through the small scanning room, as the Toa of Light's energy signature was being scanned. On the other side of the glass window, Miopat was sitting silently, urgently concentrated on the operation of his machinery. Next to him, the white and blue-armoured Renza was sitting, as results were slowly starting to appear on the machinery in front of her.
Her eyes widened.
"Doctor," she urged towards Liako, who walked towards her and stared at her analysis. "What is up, Renza?" the accented doctor inquired. The Ga-Matoran pointed at the data she was receiving on the screens.
"These energy signatures," she began, taking a deep breath.
"Go on Renza, go on!" Liako urged her impatiently.
"These energy signatures are not that of any normal Toa we have ever seen. In fact, the energy levels around this being are so high, I believe he may not even be a Toa at all!"
Chapter Three[]
Fyxan felt fitter and better-suited to the mission than he had in what seemed like an eternity. His mask, which had been damaged during their final mission, was repaired fully, as was his armour, by the armour builders and engineers on board of Starport-I.
Stretching his arms a bit, the Combat Master felt his armour totally renewed and totally refreshed, and he smiled.
"Feels good to have our armours once again repaired, doesn't it?" Shadon asks, coming to stand next to his friend. Fyxan nods in response, "it feels much better."
Then he remembered the fact that Fairon was still inside the station, though.
"I just hope," the warrior began, taking a deep breath before continuing, "I just hope that Fairon will be with us again soon."
Aquila, having overheard what Fyxan said, nods.
"I...I am shocked that the guards would not allow our friend, the Toa of Light who had been with us throughout our entire mission, to go with us to the surface below."
"Makes you wonder," Lev, joining the conversation, began, "what exactly is it that these guards saw as being...suspicious about Fairon? He was a Toa of Light like any other, the only difference being that he does not remember his origin or his early life."
Fyxan silently nodded. The warrior could not help but wonder what Fairon was being put through while aboard this space station, and even whether or not the Toa of Light would be seen again.
Tears filled the warrior's eyes.
Aquila, seeing her fellow warrior worried, walked up to Fyxan.
"I'm aware of the fact that...we don't know what he's going through," she began, her eyes becoming watery, too. "I just hope, with all of my heart, that he returns safely, for this treatment is ridiculous."
"It cannot be fair. He never did any wrong to the guards. Yes, he disobeyed imperial laws, but if we are going to have to implement these imperial laws here, after the Empire has been defeated, then I refuse to join any kind of Galactic Council or be in the service of anyone," Shadon loudly and angrily proclaimed.
Lev nodded in agreement, after which Aquila and Fyxan nodded in agreement with their fellow warrior as well.
"It's just utterly ridiculous," Lev proclaimed angrily.
Before the gang of four could continue their endless rant on the unfairness of Fairon's imprisonment, however, the door to the room in which they were located slid open, revealing the small figure of Gratiko once again.
"Well! I am glad to see your armours have been repaired!" the Matoran declared in a little over-enthusiastic tone.
"Now," the Le-Matoran continued, "will you please follow along from here on out? I will be leading you to the shuttle bay, from where you and I will finally have to say our goodbyes to each other."
The Matoran then turned around, once again facing the doorway from whence he came, and started walking enthusiastically ahead. Lev started following the Matoran first, slowly and unenthusiastically, after which Shadon followed. Fyxan, though hesitant, decided it would be best to follow the Le-Matoran as well, after which Aquila finally followed the rest of her group, not intent on being left behind onboard of the space station herself.
The journey through the rest of the fortress was long and arduous; one moment, the Toa found themselves in a large central hall, presumably the main atrium.
Everywhere he looked, Fyxan could see Matoran officers going to and fro hastily. The enormous atrium extended for hundreds of metres above and below the walkway where the group were walking, and Shadon noticed how many floors were not only filled with Matoran officers and guards, but also with such things as commodity stores, convenience stores, and even a specialised Arcturan Liquor Store.
My my, the Toa of Iron thought, staring at the various stores around him. Those who are forced to stay up here voluntarily at least have some form of luxurious life left to themselves...
The Toa then marched onwards, once again into the maze of reinforced Protodermis steel halls. The walls of the next corridor the same bland greyish colour as the previous ones, still lit by the same dull lights that lit every single one of these corridors. Though it was a technological marvel to have built such a massive space station, Lev could not help but feel a tad claustrophobic inside its environs, especially those of the inner round structure. While the outer rings had relatively spacious corridors, these corridors felt cramped, especially with all the personnel coming to and fro.
Aquila, too, felt quite uncomfortable around this many Matoran. The sheer sameness of each of the corridors, combined with the intense hustle and bustle going on all around her, led to the Toa of Water feeling somewhat ill. I just hope we are leaving soon, was all the Toa of Water could think about as she walked on and on and on through the enormous space station.
Finally taking a turn towards an elevator, Gratiko pressed several buttons to call the elevator to go several floors down, before turning around to face the rest of the Toa team.
"Come come," the Matoran begins, noticing the tired and relatively angry look on Aquila's face. "Fairon will be okay and with you shortly, I can assure you that."
"No you cannot," Shadon replied sternly, the look on his face even angrier than the look on Aquila's.
"He's right," Lev silently confirms Shadon's statement, "though we are aware of your goodwill, your goodwill does not equal good outcomes. We want Fairon to be returned to us before we leave this heinous place."
"B-b-but," the Le-Matoran stuttered, but he was interrupted by Fyxan before he could continue, "there is no but, Grat. We are tired of these games. We either want to speak to your superiors, or we want to get Fairon ourselves."
"I can only assure you will speak with my superiors, the President and Chief Enforcer themselves, Filius and Acritus respectively. I cannot bring you to Fairon. I'm sorry." The Le-Matoran's tone had become one of desperation as opposed to enthusiasm in response to the Toa's harsh comments.
"Fine," Shadon started, "but I assure you, we will be back here soon enough."
The Le-Matoran quietly nodded, before turning around to face the now-opened elevator door.
The group walked into the elevator, and Grat pressed a combination of buttons to lead the team of warriors to the shuttle bay.
The elevator was filled with an awkward, angry silence, with Shadon and Aquila occasionally staring down at the Le-Matoran angrily, filling the captain of the Galaxy-II with shame over his inability and his inaction with regards to what had happened to Fairon.
If only I could have done something, the Le-Matoran silently wished to himself, even though he knew too well that, had he resisted, it could have cost him his job and his position within the fleet.
He would never wanted to have risked his position in the fleet.
"Attention: We have reached the shuttle bay. Doors open."
The doors of the elevator slid open, finally allowing the Le-Matoran out of the elevator. He breathed in and out deeply, glad he was finally out of the horrific elevator ride, and still ashamed of what had happened before. "Please," he began, "follow me."
The warriors behind Gratiko silently started following the Matoran towards the shuttle that had been assigned to them. The shuttle was small, and looked like a heavily renewed version of the shuttles that they had been using in their time as resistance against the Empire; their wings were in the same Y-shape, and they had a separate cockpit and passengers' area. Inside the passengers' area were six seats on each side, while the cockpit had four seats total; two for the pilot and co-pilot, two for passengers.
Outside of the beautiful shuttle was standing a guard, whose armour, face, and eyes were eerily reminiscent of the armour, face and eyes of the guards who refused to let Fairon through.
"Welcome, Toa," the guard welcomed the Toa in a monotone voice, "this is the shuttle that will be leading you to Arcturus Spaceport, down below on the surface of Arcturus Magna. Once at the Spaceport, you will be received by President Filius and Chief Enforcer Acritus. Please do board the shuttle."
Shadon, not reluctant to leave the Le-Matoran, walked into the shuttle first, without even giving Grat a single look in the eyes. Aquila followed shortly after in much the same fashion, not saying her goodbyes to the captain of the Galaxy-II.
Lev, briefly standing in the doorway of the shuttle, looked at the Le-Matoran.
"Goodbye," the Toa of Air muttered silently, prompting an awkward smile from the Matoran.
Finally, Fyxan walked into the shuttle silently, only waving at the Le-Matoran, who awkwardly waved back in response. The look on the Matoran's face was one of shame and regret.
Good on him, the Combat Master thought angrily, before closing the door of the shuttle behind him.
The white and golden-armoured warrior then walked towards the right side of the shuttle, where he sat down in one of the six seats. Each of the six seats also had a strap-on safety harness, designed to keep the passengers sitting in them safe while heading into the atmosphere of a planet.
The seats were made of a soft, comfy leather, and Shadon felt good to sit in one of the seats. He was seated to the opposite of Fyxan, while next to him, Lev was seated. Aquila was seated next to Fyxan, opposite of Lev.
"Good morning warriors. Welcome aboard this shuttle of the Government of Arcturus Magna. We will shortly be taking you from Starport-I to the Spaceport on the outskirts of Arcturus City. Once there, you will be welcomed by President Filius and Chief Enforcer Acritus, who will then bring you to your new home in the Governmental Palace, also known as GP. Please ensure your safety harness is completely secured while we enter into the atmosphere of the cold planet, and please enjoy the ride. Thank you for flying with us!"
With a loud roar heard all over the shuttle, the Energy Core engines of the shuttle was activated, and the shuttle started hovering over the Protodermis steel ground it had stood on. It retracted its landing gear, and started slowly flying out of the space station.
As the space shuttle's wings now finally had enough room, they started unfolding into the upside-down Y-shape, and the shuttle's throttle increased ever further until it shot right out of the ball-like structure that made up the majority of Starport-I, into the open space around it.
The shuttle then steered its way towards the beautiful, purplish planet below.
"We have exited Starport-I. We are now entering into orbit around Arcturus Magna. Please be prepared, within several minutes we will be undertaking an atmospheric re-entry manoeuvre."
The eyes...Shadon thought, the look in those weird, glassy eyes.
"What's up, Shadon?" Aquila asked, noticing Shadon's deep thinking. The Toa of Iron turned up to face the Toa of Water.
"Something...disturbs me," the Toa of Iron began. The Toa of Water raised her eyebrow questioningly, "what might it be that disturbs you?"
"Well, I am not entirely certain if I am the only one who noticed it, but the one guard outside of this shuttle, right before we boarded...their eyes were exactly the same as the eyes of the guards that had apprehended Fairon before. In fact, his entire demeanour was virtually identical to that of the guards from earlier."
Fyxan nodded.
"These guards appeared quite...abnormal to me. They were very...cold? Emotionless? I do not know how to describe it exactly, but something about those guards was definitely off."
"That's correct," Lev began, suddenly also entering into the conversation.
"These Matoran, I believe, were the projects that I, along with several others, worked on before I left the government on the call of Herax."
Shadon looked at the Toa of Air questioningly.
"What projects, Lev?"
"Well," the Toa of Air began, "about a month or two before I left the government and was secretly sent towards Kraka Minor, the government of Arcturus Magna were working on a top secret project involving what I believe to be a sort of Matoran robot cloning, titled Project Replica."
"Matoran robot cloning? Is that not...ethically questionable?" Fyxan inquired with the Toa of Air, who responded, "well, our office received a couple of complaints. I was only one of the engineering workers who worked on the logistics of these Matoran. According to the main developers, who were ClawTech workers, these Matoran Replica were to be exactly like Matoran, except not really being real Matoran."
"He's right," Aquila suddenly added, before continuing, "the Project Replica Matoran were sent towards the Ga-University, too. We were ordered by ClawTech to research the possibility of copying genetic data of several Matoran, which we did successfully. Later on, we were sent several test models for healing and educational purposes. Besides the fact that we knew these Matoran were Replica Matoran, they themselves knew very little about their true nature. Though the prototypes were noticeably not real Matoran, the later types we received, starting with a series called...Core-5, I believe, were virtually indistinguishable from real Matoran."
Lev nodded.
"The Core-5 were the latest before the Paralysis occurred, I've heard. These models we saw at the station, though, I do believe they are much earlier models. Their behaviour is not perfected, though they are still put to use. According to the project developers, the Matoran Replica were to be an 'easily disposable workforce' who could be employed anywhere without what they called 'the risks of employing real Matoran'. Plus, they said, if these Matoran were programmed specifically for a single purpose, they would most likely be unaware of any other profession or purpose outside of their own, which is probably why these guards were so...off."
"But is that not...unethical? What good can a Matoran clone be, if their only purpose in life is to be a mindless, obedient slave? Would these Matoran Replica not realise this after a while? Actually, why would Filius and Acritus come up with such an idea?" Fyxan asked, his tone filled with shock, anger and disbelief.
The shuttle was left silently. Fyxan's words echoed inside the minds of the warriors inside, as they drew ever closer to Arcturus Spaceport.
Eyes of a fierce red hue were scanning the area the red and orange-armoured Toa of Darkness found himself in. Everywhere he looked inside the room, were experiments. Test tubes filled with what looked like semi-Matoran and even semi-Toa, test tubes filled with weirdly coloured liquid substances, computers analysing all kinds of data on the experiments, and a giant main computer screen exactly ahead of the Toa of Darkness.
The Claw's lab was as wicked and twisted as the green-armoured being himself was, and at least as poisonous.
Seated next to the Toa of Darkness was a larger, more imposing being, who was calmly looking ahead of him, the look in his mysterious green eyes as unrevealing as ever.
It unnerved Krataxus.
He had been forced to sit in this lab alongside Velnax for the past several hours while The Claw was supposedly "busy" running "errands". The two had been brought to the lab after Krataxus had asked what their method would be in order to get to Filius, after which Velnax contacted The Claw and told the latter to demonstrate "it".
Since then, Velnax and Krataxus had been sitting in the middle of a chamber filled to the brim with computers and test tubes. The sound of the computers analysing their data ringed throughout the otherwise eerily silent chamber, and some of the test tubes appeared to have a strange, bubbling substance in them.
Suddenly, the door into the lab opened, forcing Krataxus to turn around.
There, in the doorway, stood the large, mechanically armoured being known as The Claw, his poisonously red eyes piercing straight through Krataxus'.
"Good to see you both!" The Claw proclaimed enthusiastically, before slowly striding to the centre of the room. His clawed hands, most likely his namesake, were then laid out on the table in front of the two beings.
"I heard from Velnax," The Claw rasped, "that you, Krataxus, were somewhat curious as to the way we will eventually bring Filius...down."
Krataxus, ever so slightly intimidated by the large being, nodded silently.
"Good, good!"
The Claw rushed towards the computer screen, and started typing in several commands. After pressing a button, the main computer screen flicks on, revealing the picture of a black and silver-armoured Toa set against a green background. Underneath her, a window opened, in the same poisonous, neon green hue as the background.
"PROJECT: TOA REPLICA CORE-7"
"Welcome, welcome, my two visitors, and thank you for being here today and allowing me to present to you my latest and most magnificent creation!" The Claw enthusiastically mused to the two in the seats. Velnax did not budge, Krataxus still felt relatively threatened by the being.
"On this screen here, you can see the first of five Toa Replica. Before I will introduce you to her, however, I will be introducing you to what a Toa Replica is," The Claw rasped, before pressing several more buttons on the computer screen. The photo then disappeared, and the window with the text widened, revealing informative bits and pieces with regards to the Toa Replica project Core-7.
"The Core-7 project," The Claw began, "is the latest and greatest in a series of projects involving Toa and Matoran cloning. Utilising real samples of Matoran and Toa tissue, energy field signatures, and even real samples of Matoran and Toa brains, we have managed to perfect our android cloning technology. Though Matoran and Toa Replica are, as their name implies, replicas, and therefore synthetic, they are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing."
Looking at the screen, Krataxus points at the Core-7 part of the Toa Replica project name.
"Why Core-7?"
"Because," The Claw rasped, suddenly coming very close to Krataxus, "the Core-7 Toa Replica are the seventh generation of Toa Replica technology by my company, ClawTech Enterprises. The reason we have advanced into the seventh generation now, is because we have developed a very special way of keeping these Replicas blissfully unaware of their true nature."
"Which is?" Krataxus asks dryly.
The Claw then presses several more commands onto the computer, and the window then reveals more information under a header titled "SPECIAL MEMORY TECHNOLOGY, GENERATION: CORE-7".
"The Core-7 Replica beings are given what we like to refer to as...an emotional cushion," the look on The Claw's face darkens, as he continues, "we are providing the Replica beings with real memories of real beings; sometimes mixed, sometimes belonging only to a single being. In doing so, the Replica will believe whatever they have learned in the past, and will remain entirely unaware of the fact that they are, in fact, synthetic beings. Every single capability the real being may have had, the Replica will also have. Every single thing a real being may have learned, the Replica will also have learned."
The Claw takes a brief pause, before once again showing the picture of the black and silver-armoured Toa onto the main screen.
"Which brings us to her," he states, pointing at the Toa.
"She is a Toa of Sonics, name: Ison. Part one of five of the specialised Core-7 series, the Toa Arcturus, who have been given to the government of Arcturus Magna as, shall we say, a gift for their continued loyalty to my enterprises."
"What do they have to do with getting rid of Filius?" Krataxus asked, before Velnax turns towards the being sitting next to him.
"Silence, Krataxus."
The Claw smiled hideously at the Infinus of Fire, before continuing, "the Toa Arcturus, being a gift for the government, are equipped with detection chips and sensors which allow us to follow their every move, wherever and whenever they are doing something. We have also installed a specialised, undetectable camera device inside of the armours of each of the five, enabling us to see where they are exactly, and what they are looking at."
The Claw took a deep breath, before continuing,
"Ison here is a special one. She is currently in employment as Filius' assistant and is capable of highly advanced modes of combat. Please do enjoy."
The Claw then presses several buttons to activate a video, presumably filmed from Ison's onboard camera.
The video shows the Toa warrior, fighting against Filius in a friendly duel, and nearly outmatching him with her sonic speed and fighting agility.
She screeches.
"Agh!" Krataxus yells as he rushes to protect his ears from the harsh sound of the sonic screeching by the Toa of Sonics. On-screen, the same happens with Filius, who tries to protect himself from her powers as she disarms him. Before she can disarm him and declare his defeat, however, he uses his gravity powers to push her away and nail her to the ground, grabs both her sword and his own, and holds them against her.
With no way out and entirely unable to get back up or even move due to the sheer pressure of Filius' Gravity powers, the Toa of Sonics surrenders in a friendly tone, and Filius is seen smiling before the video is once again deactivated.
"Now," The Claw once again begins, "as you can see, Ison's fighting skills are more than formidable, and she is just the first of them all. The others, I will introduce to you later. She, however, will provide us with most valuable information on what the President is doing, where he is, and what missions he is intending to send her and her comrades on. She will be the best spy who never even knew she was one."
The Claw laughed.
An absolutely horrible, ominous sound echoing throughout the lab.
Why? What are they planning on doing with me? I haven't done anything wrong to them, how could they have possibly chosen to capture me and scan my energy field signatures?
Fairon only pondered.
In the last few hours, he had been scanned once again by doctors Liako, Renza and Miopat, with the exact same set of questions having been asked as before. A tedious, lengthy process that drained Fairon of what little energy he had.
"It's a surprise you guys can even scan my energy field signatures, I'm completely exhausted," the Toa of Light had remarked laughingly, to which Liako snugly, seriously replied, "my my, Toa, we are scanning your aura energy, not your physical energy."
The scans were lengthy and Fairon had still not heard of the results. Ever since his arrival in this dull, boring holding compartment, the Toa of Light wondered whether or not the rest of his team had already left the space station. Would Gratiko really not do anything at all? Where would the team go, once they were on the surface? It could not be that they were just being led to the surface to do nothing at all.
It angered the Toa endlessly.
He had only just finished his previous mission, which psychologically and physically scarred him, and he had already been imprisoned in this tiny holding compartment. What was worse even, is that he was not imprisoned by the Temporal Empire or some kind of forces of darkness, no.
He had been imprisoned by the very beings he had thought he could trust.
Welp, there goes my trust in the government of Arcturus Magna and in Filius himself, the Toa of Light thought to himself cynically, staring at the blank wall opposite of his bed.
Suddenly, breaking the oppressive silence of the bedroom slash holding compartment, the door slid open, revealing the three doctors. Once again, Liako walked in first, followed by Renza, followed by Miopat.
"Well, well, well, Fairon!" Liako said loudly, forcing even Renza to urge the tall Ko-Matoran doctor, "Liako, remember, we're in a holding compartment, not a lecture hall."
"What are you here for?" Fairon asked the three Matoran doctors mockingly.
"We are here to give you some vital information with regards to your stay here," Liako stated.
Fairon promptly sat up, feeling lighter by the thoughts of something being said about his stay in the holding compartment.
Before he could become even more enthusiastic, though, Liako loudly announced that which killed Fairon's enthusiasm as soon as it had come up.
"Your stay aboard Starport-I will be indefinitely prolonged until we have identified the source of the...strangeness of your energy field signatures," Liako proclaimed, with Renza following up, "your energy field signatures, according to my readings, are so off the charts that no normal Toa, wherever in the galaxy, has ever had these strange readings. Doctor Liako wants to commit us to further research into your energy fields before we can let you free."
"'m truly sorry, Fairon," Miopat, the slower doctor, began in an empathic tone, "I don't know why-" before he could finish his sentence, however, Liako slapped his fellow Matoran across the face.
"Shut it, you!" the Ko-Matoran doctor angrily proclaimed at the Fe-Matoran, who took a step back. Renza, clearly shocked, screamed "Liako! Behave!"
"Right, right," Liako stated in a rather annoyed tone, before once more turning to face Fairon.
"So, you are not to leave this station until we have finished our research!"
With that, the Ko-Matoran turned around and stormed out of the room furiously. Renza, shocked, rushed to follow the Ko-Matoran doctor.
Before he left the room, Miopat turned around, the look in his eyes one of empathy and regret. "I don't know what he's doing either, I'm sorry man," the Fe-Matoran proclaimed in a sad tone, before turning around to go after his two fellow doctors.
The doors then closed once more.
Chapter Four[]
Eyes of a wise, friendly orange hue were staring straight ahead, into the seeming nothingness. Hidden behind a gunmetal coloured great Kanohi Miru, the being to whom the eyes belonged, could not help but feel uneasy about the news of Matoran clones being used as unwilling, and unknowing, slave labour.
It filled the Toa of Iron with dread.
What if they start using Toa clones as cannon-fodder? What if these Matoran discover their true identities and discover they have been set up all along?
All kinds of questions raced through the engineer's head.
The shuttle, with its inverted-Y shape, had finally entered the atmosphere of the great purplish planet, and was now flying over enormous plains of ice, stretching everywhere the eye could see. In the distance, the twin white main sequence stars were providing the faintest of light on Arcturus Magna, only just enough for the two pilot Matoran to be able to see where they were.
Fyxan was staring out of the front window.
Arcturus Magna, he thought, just what is it that this mysterious being wanted us to find here, on Arcturus Magna? He could not help but wonder endlessly, as he stared out of the shuttle, onto the enormous ice plains of the cold, barren and largely inhospitable planet.
A light.
Another.
And yet another.
Fyxan's eyes suddenly widened, as he could finally see what appeared to be a searchlight in the distance, slightly above the horizon. In a rush, the warrior awoke Aquila, who had been fast asleep ever since they had entered the atmosphere.
"Wh-what is it?" the Toa of Water said in quite a tired tone, as she just opened her eyes.
The warrior of Light pointed at the light that had now become slightly bigger, still on the horizon. The Toa of Water's friendly green eyes widened in disbelief as she jolted upwards immediately, surprised to already be this close to the capital city of the planet.
"Are we...are we already there?" the blue and black-armoured Toa shouted at the cockpit. The co-pilot turned around in response, "well ma'am, as you can see, the light that is now coming ever closer is indeed the light of Arcturus Spaceport, where we will shortly be welcomed. In about five minutes, we will arrive."
Lev, who had been deeply concentrated on the Replica project he was working on before he left the planet, now looked up at the light in the distance as well. As he heard what the co-pilot announced, the Toa of Air felt immensely relieved to be close to the city he once called home, and hoped to call home again soon. The Toa of Air hoped, with all he had, that he would once again be able to be a civil engineer in the service of the government.
When he had been sent on the mission to Kraka Minor and the Nui Tower of Time, Lev had protested first, stating "I may be a Combat Master, that does not mean I'm a policeman, especially not a universal policeman!"
Indeed, Lev's interest in the arts of Combat was more one of study, self-reflection and self-discovery than it had been one of actual interest in Combat itself. As such, the Toa of Air had always practiced the arts of Combat more as a means of self-defence than as a means of offence.
Shadon, seated next to Lev, had also turned his head to face the light on the horizon.
Once in Arcturus City, and once having fulfilled whatever Fairon's goal was, Shadon hoped to be able to return to the profession he loved most; being an engineer. Having seen the Matoran workers aboard Starport-I partaking in all kinds of engineering activities, building the newest ships for the Space Fleet, Shadon, too, hoped he could soon again partake in these activities.
After all, he was the co-designer of the Titan-I, alongside his former best friend Zirix.
Suddenly, the computerised voice boomed over the speakers into the passengers' compartment of the shuttle.
"Attention, passengers: We are now entering Arcturan City airspace. Within a minute, we will arrive at Arcturus Spaceport. Once there, President Filius and Chief Enforcer Acritus will await you and greet you. Please prepare yourself for this occasion."
The shuttle moved graciously through the airspace surrounding the tremendous biospheres, coming ever closer to the large spaceport facilities.
Connected by an immense, arched glass hallway leading into the main dome itself, the spaceport was a city on its own. At its centre, a huge tower loomed over the other buildings, over 200 floors tall. Near its top, this enormous tower had a globe-like structure with windows going all 360 degrees of its globe just below its equatorial area. Down below, far below the enormous tower, were large, towering buildings with launch-pads and landing areas littered all over the place, each of these buildings at least 50 stories tall. At its centre, located at the base of the enormous tower, was a huge, domed building. The dome, taller than most of the skyscrapers around it, was built out of enormous, hexagonal reinforced Protodermis steel plates, with six windows distributed evenly across the dome.
The dome resembled, in more ways than one, the enormous Biospheres that made up the vast majority of Arcturus City itself. Much like the smaller dome of the Spaceport, these Biospheres were constructed out of enormous hexagonal plates of reinforced Protodermis steel. The difference between the Biospheres and the Spaceport, though, was that the insides of the hexagons were built out of glass, allowing sunlight from the twin white main sequence stars to enter into Arcturus City.
At the launch-pads of the many skyscrapers, one could see a myriad of vessels coming and going, bound for unknown destinations.
The shuttle slowly neared one of the landing pads, a larger one situated quite near the enormous dome itself. The wings folded and the landing gear unfolded out of the shuttle's hull. With a slight thud, the shuttle finally hit the surface of Arcturus Magna.
"Attention, passengers: We have arrived at the Arcturus Spaceport. Please do note that exiting the vessel now is still unsafe. The landing pad's safe passage tube is now being opened and led towards the door, which will allow all of you to enter Arcturus Spaceport itself. We would like to thank you for travelling with us, and hope you have a pleasant and safe stay in Arcturus City itself."
With a thud, the aforementioned safe passage tube was now connected to the shuttle itself, and the co-pilot got out of his seat.
"Passengers, it is now safe to unfasten your seatbelts. Please follow me," the co-pilot urged, as he opened the door.
On the other side of the door, a highly futuristic, white Protodermis steel walkway had been put all the way through the tube.
Inside the safe passage tube, the temperatures were freezing. Though not as badly freezing or deathly cold as the cold of the presence of the Undead, this cold could not be described as much more pleasant.
Fyxan rose from his comfortable leather seat first, and followed the co-pilot. The pilot remained behind inside the vessel. Before finally going through the door, Fyxan turned around to face the pilot.
"Thank you sir," the warrior told the pilot, who remained utterly silent in his pilot's seat.
Shadon followed suit, and followed his friend into the safe passage tube as well. The Toa of Iron did not, however, say anything to the pilot.
"What a strange person, that pilot..." the Toa of Iron muttered under his breath.
"Yup," Lev, walking behind Shadon, agreed, "entirely silent throughout the flight, just following orders. Another of those Replica Matoran, perhaps?"
"I think so..." Aquila now intervened, walking at the end of the group, "I am so very curious as to what Filius and Acritus will have to say about it."
The innards of the spaceport itself were vast and beautiful; highly futuristic, grey and white reinforced Protodermis steel lined the walls, and bright white lights lit up the corridors of the structure coldly. Following the co-pilot, the Toa were led into a fairly large, round elevator.
The door opened slowly, revealing a fairly large, round room lined with beautiful leather seats of the same quality as those in the shuttle. The co-pilot, pointing at the seats, urged for the Toa to sit down.
"Please seat yourselves, it'll take a minute before we're down."
The Matoran, seating himself too, started pressing several buttons on a control panel next to his seat. The large doors of the elevator then shut, and the elevator shot down at incredible speed.
"I wonder what Filius and Acritus have brought for us, given the fact that they are personally coming here to welcome us," Fyxan stated calmly, with Lev, Shadon and Aquila nodding in agreement.
The elevator then stopped abruptly, and the co-pilot got up from his seat. The doors of the elevator then shot open, revealing an incredibly large hallway. Its floor appeared to be a sort of beautiful, reflective black Protodermis marble, while the walls and ceiling were the same white and grey reinforced Protodermis steel as the rest.
Walking to the left, the team of warriors finally walked straight into the enormous atrium hidden underneath the massive Protodermis steel dome. Inside the atrium, thousands and thousands of Matoran were standing, applauding and cheering on the team loudly.
Amid the atrium, on a stage, Filius and Acritus stood, applauding along with the Matoran. The Toa of Gravity's armour was visibly aged; its once glorious silver colour was ever so slightly faded, his beautiful Kanohi Rode battle-worn, and some parts of his armour slightly cracked. Still, the almost ancient Toa appeared as joyful and cheerful as ever before, with a broad smile on his face as he saw the incoming Toa team.
Standing to the left of the relatively skinny Filius, was the more bulky Acritus, clapping much like his fellow Combat Master. The Toa of Air's armour was of a dark green, black and lime green hue, though it was visibly faded due to age. His mask was a visibly modified Kanohi Miru, with high-tech implants enabling the Toa of Air to scan his area swiftly and efficiently.
To the right of the Toa of Gravity, stood another Toa. Her armour, much like that of Filius, was silver and black, but she looked much different. She was slightly less tall than both Acritus and Filius, but a very elegant figure nonetheless. Out of the back of her head, behind her mask, protruded a set of gunmetal hairs, reaching down to her middle. Her arms were armoured, yet slender, as were her legs.
"Wait a minute, Acritus," Filius whispered to the Toa of Air next to him, who turned to his fellow Toa.
"What is it Filius?"
"Fairon's not with them."
"We must keep him aboard the station," Liako nearly shouted, slamming his fist on the coffee table in the middle of the comfy scientists' room.
A relatively small room, the room featured a comfortable chair for each of the three scientists, a small kitchen with a machine for superheated water for Estronian Tea, as well as the finest quality Estronian and Azzilati Coffees. The three seats are situated in a triangular position around a round, artificial wooden table, on which the cups of the beverages of the scientists are standing.
In the corner next to the kitchen, a door is situated, leading to the science centre. In the science centre, the shared high-tech computer workstation is featured. On this computer, the doctors enter their data once a medical or scientific investigation has been concluded.
"But Liako," Miopat begins calmly, taking a sip from his Estronian relaxation herb tea, "there are no more possibilities to research into Fairon's energy fields any further," with Renza joining her fellow doctor to add, "the only way to find out more would be to perform grossly unethical experiments on him, which I am certain you do not want."
"There must be a way..." Liako utters in desperation.
"There simply isn't, Liako," the Fe-Matoran slowly stated, "we've done everything we could, performed every single research trick in the book." He paused briefly, before adding, "as you know, none of these tricks yielded any kind of meaningful results to advance our research".
The Ga-Matoran next to Miopat nodded.
"We're at a dead end with this research. We'd need permission from Fairon and the Government and the Station Management here in order to be able to conduct any of these experiments you are proposing," Renza stated quietly.
"Do you two not see?!" Liako nearly shouted, "this Toa has got energy field signatures more akin to that of an Infinian than that of a normal Toa! He is the research opportunity of the millennium! If we discover what is causing these high energy levels, we could help others attain these, and possibly even bring them to an even higher level!"
"Liako," Renza began, putting her hand on the Ko-Matoran's cold shoulder.
"Stop."
Liako slapped away the hand of the Ga-Matoran.
"I cannot let this opportunity slip up, I just cannot!"
"Fyxan, Shadon, Aquila and Lev, welcome to Arcturus Magna!" Filius greeted the Toa team enthusiastically through his microphone. The applause in the dome was thunderous. Putting the microphone away, the Toa of Gravity slowly walks towards the team, Acritus and the mysterious female Toa following him shortly after.
"It is a great pleasure to meet all of you, here," the Toa of Gravity bowed as he greeted the gang of four in a most polite fashion. He then turned back up, and the look on his face turned from enthusiastic to drastic.
"Just one question," Filius began, his voice almost turning into a whisper.
"Where's Fairon?"
In an instant, Shadon walked up to the Toa of Gravity, the look on the Toa of Iron's face one of anger and distrust.
"Now Filius, you want to know where Fairon is? You tell me," the Toa of Iron shouted, before Aquila finally ran towards the Toa of Iron to calm him.
"Calm down Shadon, calm," the Toa of Water urged her friend, before turning to Filius himself.
"The guards on board of Spaceport-I took Fairon away. Where to? We do not know. We were hoping you would know, as you are, after all, the President of Arcturus Magna."
Filius looked down in shame.
For once, he did not know where his agents had put Fairon. In fact, he was completely unaware that the heroic Toa of Light had been kept onboard of the space station at all.
Not knowing what else to do, the Toa of Gravity turned to his fellow Combat Master.
"Acritus, you explain," the Toa of Gravity urged Acritus, who began, "well, first of all, welcome here. We, uh, well..." Acritus stuttered a slight bit, hinting at the Toa of Air's slight anxiety pertaining to the topic at hand.
"Fairon was ordered to remain onboard of the station accidentally. At least, we have no reports of any direct orders to keep Fairon onboard of the station for investigations."
Shadon's eyes widened in anger.
"He what?"
Fyxan and Lev gasped in shock, unable to believe that Fairon was not kept onboard of the station on-purpose, but had been ordered to remain there by accident.
"But that cannot be!" Aquila protested loudly, before continuing, "he was clearly ordered by the guards to remain onboard of the station. Just who is behind it, then?"
"Well," Acritus began slowly, "we have established contact with the station and discovered that he was put under the supervision of the station's foremost medical personnel, doctors Liako, Renza and Miopat. If I am to believe the records as told by the Station Management and the Station Manager Lahrii, they have scanned his energy signatures for anomalies and are now in the middle of processing the results."
"What about Fairon, though? If the scans are through, can he not be sent down here already?" Lev inquired, to which Acritus responded sternly, "we have already done that. We have ordered for your friend, the Toa of Light known as Fairon, to be sent down here as soon as virtually possible, by station personnel."
"Liako...we cannot keep Fairon here against his will. Filius' initial orders for Fairon and his team were to be sent to the surface as soon as possible. What happens? The guards send Fairon here. We cannot allow ourselves to continue this research any longer," Renza tried to comfort her fellow doctor, who refused all approaches to his person.
"If we don't stop," Miopat began sternly, his tone more stern, more serious and more active than Renza had ever heard it before, "I refuse to partake in the further research experiments. It is against his rights as a living being to be experimented on in such gross ways. He's a living Toa, Liako, not a robot."
Finally, the Ko-Matoran raised his head, the tears still in his fierce eyes.
"Well..." he began, sobbing loudly, "fine then, have it your way."
"Have it our way?!" Renza inquired angrily, "what?!"
"We are missing out on an incredibly important opportunity to-" before Liako could continue his rant, however, a pair of large Matoran guards stormed into the room, the look on their faces stern.
"Doctor Liako," the guard on the left addressed the Ko-Matoran, "we have received orders from Chief Enforcer Acritus for the immediate withdrawal of Toa Fairon, subject 5413616, from your research program. Furthermore, we have been ordered to have the subject evacuated from the premises of your research facility immediately."
"B-but-"
"Silence," before Liako could elaborate on his protestations against the decision, the Matoran guard silenced the loud Ko-Matoran doctor.
"Our orders are orders, Liako. You are ordered to upload all of your research data on this subject to the station mainframe as well as to the data mainframe of the Arcturan Government. That is the last thing you are permitted to do in this research facility. Afterwards, you will be put under permanent supervision inside the highest-security cells in the Governmental Palace on the surface, and your research will be investigated."
"What about us, though?" Renza inquired in a slightly scared, intimidated tone.
The Matoran guard turned towards the Ga-Matoran, the look in his eyes colder than any eyes Renza had ever seen before.
"You two will be placed on the inactivity roster of the station and then reassigned to another post until the investigation has led to more conclusions about your responsibilities with regards to doctor Liako. For now, though, you two are assigned as interim lab management and are ordered to keep permanent supervision of doctor Liako. Two guard units will be permanently placed outside of your lab so as to keep oversight on what activities the doctor is undertaking at any given moment. It is highly advised that the two of you cooperate."
Renza and Miopat, left with little choice but to cooperate, nodded silently, and the guards left the room. Another two guards, then, suddenly arrived.
"Good day doctors. We are the guards that are to stand guard outside of this research facility in order to watch over doctor Liako."
Bang.
The white and golden-armoured Toa of Light jolted upwards on his uncomfortable mattress as the door of his holding compartment was blasted open. There, in the door opening, stood two Matoran guards, virtually identical to the ones that had previously ordered for Fairon to be sent to the research facility.
"Good day, Toa Fairon, subject 5413616," the guard on the left greeted the Toa.
"Umm, good day, I guess?" Fairon attempted to greet the two guards relatively awkwardly.
"We have received orders from Chief Enforcer Acritus to withdraw you from doctor Liako's research immediately, and we have been ordered to evacuate you from this station at once. Please do follow us."
"Wh-what?" Fairon attempted to inquire, but before he could continue, the guard once again uttered the order, "Please do follow us."
Confused, though happy to finally be allowed out of his terrible holding compartment, Fairon followed the two guard Matoran awkwardly. Walking past the scientists' room, the Toa of Light noticed the sudden presence of another two of those Matoran guards.
What would it be that doctor Liako is doing that could get him under the supervision of two guards? the Toa of Light wondered to himself as he stared at the pair of guards standing outside of the scientists' room.
Ascending the same spiral staircase he had been forced to descend before, the Toa of Light was now escorted into the large main corridors he had been travelling through under the guidance of Gratiko before.
Taking a sharp turn to the right, the Toa of Light once again arrived at the door from which he had been sent to the doctors previously. The guards, now opening the doors without saying a word to the Toa of Light, led the white and golden-armoured warrior into the next corridor.
The roof of the large, grey, reinforced Protodermis steel corridor had a window running through its middle, through which the Toa of Light could see they were now entering the globular structure at the centre of the impressive space station.
The rest of the journey through the space station to the shuttle bay was a long and boring one. Corridor after corridor, each the exact same greyish gunmetal hue of the reinforced Protodermis steel. At one point, the Toa and his two guard escorts were walking through what appeared to be the central atrium of the enormous space station; an enormous structure with several walkways enabling one to walk from one side to the other, with thousands of Matoran crewmembers of the ships walking to and fro. It was intensely busy, but it interested the Toa of Light very little.
He was tired, and wanted desperately to be led to the surface now.
Finally, taking a turn to the left, the guards escorted the Toa of Light into an elevator, and pressed several buttons. The elevator doors closed, and the elevator shot down to the shuttle bay.
"We have arrived at the shuttle bay."
With the computerised voice's announcement, the doors shot open again, revealing what appeared to be a garage for shuttles. Protodermis steel walkways surrounded the shuttles in a U-shape, which enabled engineers and crewmembers to walk around and check the shuttles for defects.
At one lone shuttle, one shaped like an inverted Y, the two escorts silently dropped off the Toa of Light. One walked to the Matoran standing on guard outside of the shuttle.
"Attention, this is the document describing the dismissal of subject 5413616 and the orders of his immediate evacuation. Please sign here, here and here," the guard said sternly to the other guard, pointing at various locations on the paper presented to him.
The other guard nodded at his fellow, who then joined his comrade. The two guard escorts then silently walked out of the hangar together, leaving Fairon with the silent guard of his ship.
"Please, do enter."
Fairon nodded, and walked into the shuttle calmly. The innards of the shuttle vaguely resembled the innards of the older shuttles the Toa of Light and his team had been using on their missions during the Universal Paralysis. Their wing shape, the inverted Y, was largely the same, and their cockpit had largely the same shape, too. The only difference was in their seats.
The old passengers' seats were made of Protodermis plastic, while the newer seats were made of a finer, leathery substance, enabling passenger comfort to be maximal.
The shuttle doors closed and, shortly afterwards, the shuttle took off. The doors ahead of the shuttle, leading into the exit corridor, opened.
The exit corridor was long and went all the way from the garage on the insides to an exit on the outside of the globular structure, and was lit by red lamps.
Before he had any time to think about how long it would take for him to reach the surface, the Toa of Light felt too tired, and fell asleep shortly afterwards.
A blast.
"No, you cannot do this!"
Another blast.
A cackling laugh.
"Allow me to show you our true power!"
"NEVER!"
An intensely bright flash of light blinded the Toa of Light, who attempted to protect his eyes using his hands.
"What the-"
Another explosion.
"No...my brother...I will not allow it to end this way."
Suddenly, Fairon felt how he was being strangulated by an incredibly powerful grip, as Darkness envelops him. Though he attempts to struggle, the grip holding on to the Toa of Light's neck is too tight, and he cannot help but panic as he feels Darkness envelops him ever further.
"No...!"
Unleashing all of his remaining power out of his hands, the Toa of Light fired a blast of Light at whomever it was that was attempting to strangulate him. Though the being who appeared to be holding his neck screamed, the grip on the Toa of Light remained as tight as ever. In fact, the Darkness powers that enveloped the Toa of Light appeared to become more intense than ever.
"Enough."
In a flash, Fairon felt himself flying through the air.
He screamed.
"NO!" a familiar voice screams as Fairon falls endlessly.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Darkness envelops the Toa of Light as he falls ever further down into the darkened abyss. Where will I go...? the Toa of Light thinks to himself.
What is my destiny...?
"Whoa!" Fairon screams as he jolts upwards, once again finding himself in the comfy leather seat of the shuttle. The co-pilot, having just heard Fairon's screams and panic, has turned around to face the Toa of Light.
"You okay back there, Toa?"
"I-I'm fine!" the Toa of Light attempted to reassure the co-pilot, but his panicked tone did very little to put the Matoran at ease. "Where are we?" the Toa inquired with the Matoran.
"We've just arrived at the spaceport, Fairon."
With an abrupt thud, the shuttle hits the Protodermis steel landing platform. A safe passage tube, enabling the passage of Fairon's from the shuttle to the spaceport, is connected to the door of the shuttle with a clicking sound, and the co-pilot finally rises out of his seat.
"Alright, please follow me Toa."
The Toa follows the small, greyish armoured Matoran out of the shuttle, into the white safe passage tube and then, finally into the luxurious interior of Arcturus spaceport itself. To his left and right are round windows, enabling the Toa of Light to look outside.
There, to his left, the Toa of Light can see what appears to be a fairly large Protodermis steel dome, made up of hexagonal Protodermis steel plates. Behind the already rather large dome, however, the Toa of Light suddenly notices something infinitely bigger than the dome of the building he is situated in.
The enormous Biospheres of Arcturus City itself.
Though he had heard of the immense size and scale on which the Arcturan Biospheres had been built, he had never been completely able to visualise it, until now.
The Biosphere stretched as far as the eye could see, though Fairon could not look at what was inside the enormous dome, as it was built atop an enormous Protodermis steel wall that separated the barren, inhospitable surface from the enormous city's insides. Leading towards the wall, was a large, arched corridor made up of Protodermis steel and glass; large enough to fit a small battleship.
"Fairon,"
The sound of the co-pilot's dull, emotionless voice pulled Fairon back to reality, as he realised once again he was in the immense spaceport, to follow the co-pilot to the atrium in the dome below.
"Please do follow me," the co-pilot urged the Toa of Light to move on.
Arriving in front of the large door of a fairly luxurious, round elevator, the co-pilot pressed several buttons to open the elevator, after which the doors slid open to reveal the round interior of the elevator. Its walls were lined with leathery seats, not unlike the leathery seats of the shuttle Fairon had been in before.
The Toa of Light seated himself in one of the seats near the door, the co-pilot seating himself to the exact opposite of the Toa of Light, next to a control console. After a row of button presses, the elevator doors closed, and the elevator shot down.
Within roughly a minute's time, the elevator had managed to head down all the way from the very top of the tower, to the ground level far below. No wonder, Fairon thought to himself, that these elevators have seats like that.
The doors slid open in front of the Toa of Light, revealing a beautifully ornate hallway. Its walls were the same greyish-white reinforced Protodermis steel as the rest, ornately decorated with rounded lamps providing the light within the spacious interior. The floor was a black Protodermis marble, the most luxurious the Toa of Light had yet seen in his life.
Taking a turn to the left, the Toa of Light's mouth fell wide open. The interior of the enormous dome he had previously seen from above was breathtakingly large. Wherever the white and golden-armoured Toa looked, he could see walkways filled to the brim with Matoran, all applauding loudly. The atrium underneath the dome was enormous, large enough to provide space for at least a hundred thousand Matoran at any given time without feeling too crowded.
Amid the atrium stood a large stage, upon which Fairon saw the rest of his team lined up.
He smiled.
As soon as they caught sight of him, Shadon came running off the stage in Fairon's direction, followed by Fyxan, Aquila and Lev. Behind the team still, a trio of Toa slowly walked in the direction of the Toa of Light. One of them was a skinny, black and silver-armoured Toa wearing a great Kanohi Rhode. The other a female one, still with black and silver-coloured armour, yet slightly bulkier than the tall and skinny one. The third of them was different entirely; his armour was dark and lime green hues, and he was wearing a Kanohi Miru.
"Citizens of Arcturus City," the skinny, tall Toa began, "please allow us to welcome," the room grew quieter with each word, "the Toa who led his team in their fight, the Toa who helped defeat the Empire!"
"Please, welcome, Toa Fairon!"
As the skinny Toa uttered those words, the thousands upon thousands of Matoran on the walkways, in the hall and in the offices of the enormous spaceport all erupted into thunderous applause.
The skinny Toa came forward, handed the microphone to the female Toa next to him, and started walking towards Fairon. He then extended his arm to the Toa of Light.
"Welcome, Fairon," the being smiled, "welcome to Arcturus Magna. I'm Filius, President of Arcturus Magna and current president of the Galactic Council."
Filius pointed at the dark and lime green-armoured, bulky Toa next to him. "He's Acritus. Chief Enforcer of Arcturus City and currently Chief Commander of the Galactic Council Space Fleet."
Acritus held out his hand, and Fairon shook it.
"Please to meet you, Fairon," Acritus' voice was stern and austere as he welcomed the Toa of Light to Arcturus Magna.
Finally, Filius pointed at the female Toa that had been standing on his other side. "She," he began, "is Ison. A former employee of the ClawTech enterprise, she's now my assistant Toa."
Ison and Fairon shook hands firmly, with the Toa of Sonics not even so much as smiling as she did. "Welcome," she said in a businesslike manner, "it's a pleasure to meet a Toa of such...magnitude as you. I look forward to working together with you and your team."
Still not smiling, she walked back to Filius' side.
"Now, if you all will follow me," the Toa of Gravity urged, "we are heading towards the Governmental Palace to show you your new homes."
Chapter Five[]
Coming soon...