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Magnum, Elvo's automata and Derra with squad in tow walk the halls of the ancient ship, the Hunter of the Damned showing it's majesty and grace. Stone and marble statues of red, white and black line the walls and ceiling, depicting angels and cherubs, stained glass showing honor-filled battles and triumphs. The grey floor has gold in-lay, at intersections ancient letters were put at each direction, possibly so that at glance everyone knew where to go, with the power system still going the atmosphere is clean though they can hear the filter systems struggling.

Derra finally breaks the awe struck silence "Such a refined vessel, none of our current ships bare such dressings in this abundance."

Elvo looks to him "From what I can tell, the Order of Cerberus was a religeio-order, it would make sense that their vessels would look like this."

The mystic was piling it all together, the ship must be automated at least to a degree as no life signs were detected, but the ship was being maintained somehow. They turn a corridor and see a body laying the floor, it looks like an ancient knight but the suit looks to be a cross of power armor and exo suit at about three times the size of the power armor the Everglaive uses, it's mostly painted an ash grey with the shoulders, knees, feet and hands being silver, on it's flat shoulder and chest is the symbol of the order and the helm is canine-like but a little box-shaped, to the left is a square shield and to the right is a massive axe, there is a massive hole where the heart of the occupant is.

Derra moves around the body "So, this is what they used thirty thousand years ago?", he looks to Elvo's automata "What can you make of it?"

The eyes of the automata look to the fallen knight as Elvo runs her scan "The construction of the armor used mainly a steel-based composite, but I am also picking up some kind of iron-based alloy laced throughout it, the skeleton uses a compressed liquid hydraulic system in conjunction with it's servo motors, in terms of a power source it looks to be a type of hydrogen generator."

Magnum decides to have some drones come aboard to bring the knight and his gear into his ship for further analysis, he also has more drones board to begin exploring the ship and to report all findings to Elvo. Based on data from the sonar they are heading towards the bridge, as they get towards the bridge, clear pipes start to line the walls with flowing water going through them before changing to bronze, the group finding another body of an armored knight on occasion, every one of them having discarded arms, usually a shield and a melee weapon of some kind, but a few have these massive ranged weapons, similar to autocannons, missile launchers and huge flamethrowers but the most common seem be these massive shotgun weapons with four barrels fed by some kind of break-action, spent shells putting them at the equivalent of a 4 gauge round according to Elvo much to the surprise of the others. The group reaches two massive open doors of gold with silver letters lined in bronze, over the door is a three-headed snarling hound with red eyes, the room they enter is huge and ornate, the floor is a white marble, walls of powerful bronze with massive statues of black hounds, the room has three stages to it, they are on the middle platform, the lower platform has a massive red eye with what looks like sensor-based equipment while the medium platform has what looks like communication stations, weapon control systems, the third and top platform bares a massive throne, the stations up here look to be those to show functions of the ship and internal scanners, some of the bodies are fully armored knights but most looked to be the ragged remains of serfs and crew. Three bodies have their full attention though, their armor extremely ornate and depicting gout's of golden flame, no doubt these are bodies of the grand master and his personal bodyguards, their weapons are finely crafted halberds while the grand master is still clutching a powerful-looking double headed axe. The other end of the room shows the view out into the void, the massive view port lined with gold and place holders candles long since melted, veins of silver linking it to the bronze as griffons line the port facing towards the bridge crew.

The mystic breaks the silence "Incredible!." in awe at the entire set up.

Derra looks at the displays "Hard to believe this ship is still operational after thirty millennia... and it's in an amazing shape."

Elvo goes over to one of the command panels and begins to types the keys "The ships computer systems look to be intact, but there may be some damage and corrsion in some areas."

Magnum just takes in the full scope of the room as he pools together what they have seen thus far... the sheer amount of resources used alone is staggering, but the amount of rare minerals and metals is just ridiculous. How many worlds did they have to empty just to build this dreadnought? If the rest of the ship was like this...

'How could they even afford to attempt such a craft?! This ship must've taken decades if not centuries to assemble!' was all the mystic could think to himself.

The hyena looks to the wolf "Technically you and Elvo have salvage rights over this thing... but what are you going to do with this ship? There is no way you have enough drones to handle this beast."

The coyote looks between both of them "I can assemble some drones to form a skeleton crew, but we should learn how this ship works first and to better understand it's systems."

Magnum sighs "Make it so, but we can't just leave the ship here. Learn how the engine systems work, set up an up-link and send it to our biggest depot."

Elvo nods and begins to carry out the instructions, the Everglaive are just captivated by the vessel as they continue to look around. The armament of the ship is staggering and unheard of, the twelve massive triple barrel guns are 300cm in caliber, three to it's port and starbord with three towards the bow and the other three towards the stern with four on top and two on the bottom in such directions, twenty double barrel turrets that are 80cm compliment the massive guns and are more spread across the ship, seventy-five missile pods and a great number of point defense guns, the length of the ancient ship is an amazing three thousand meters, at it's beam it's eight hundred and thirty-five meters and a height of six hundred and eighty-seven with an estimated displacement of 87,000,000m3 and it's armor is extremely thick, to add to this the massive ship also has some small hangers, most likely for shuttles, intercept craft and maybe even bombers, the mighty shields look to be kinetic barriers with a very high output that can stop energy weapons. Investigating the ship takes a full week as the drones do most of the scouting, the ship still has most of it's ammunition in storage with only the point defense guns having nearly exhausted all of their rounds, Magnum and Elvo uncover a massive a.i. core that has deteriorated significantly to where only it's sub-systems are functional, pockets of spider drones for the ship are also discovered that are equipped with tools, but the amount of dust on them indicate that they haven't seen use centuries if not thousands of years, some of them are even laying on the ground.

The mystic is back aboard the Howl of Silver, any spare drones they can make are being sent to the Hunter of the Damned, if the ship is going to be moving it's going to need a crew, plus they can further document the vessel.

Magnum takes it all in 'This ship became their tomb, but we may be able to uncover something interesting.', he looks to Evlo "Have you been able to figure out the ships systems?"

The coyote nods "I completed the software and can begin converting files, it's guidance system has been adjusted and I have plotted a course thanks to it's auto-pilot. Our drones are equipped with knowledge on how the ship operates and can handle things from here and will transmit if anything goes amiss."

The mystics gives a solid nod "Very good, please send the Hunter where it needs to go, in the mean time we should also examine the weapons and armor we recovered."

The mighty engines of the dreadnought roar to life as various lights ignite, the eyes of the hound at the bow, the sight brings people from all over their ships to view the relic machine, a knight vessel from an age long lost to time, many knelt at it's beauty, some cried tears of pride and valor while some just stared in awe, it's as if the ancient vessel was being welcomed home as it was paraded. The whir of the ships jump drive sounds along it's spine, like a sleeping giant had just been awakened, from the fore red electricity begins to flow and spread towards the back and a few seconds later the ship shoots into it's jump. The crusade fleet hangs around for a little long but then resumes their journey in the Reaper Sector to continue their mission.

With the ancient vessel having been dealt with, Elvo and Magnum begin to inspect the equipment of the Cerberus knight, all that's left of the occupant is dust, but the suit is pretty intact, they put some hydrogen into the generator and with a jolt they kick start the generator, though it is beyond shot, so they keep the cable of hydrogen attached to it's engine section. The mystic tackles the hud and systems of the suit while the a.i. handles the exact composition of the armor and functionality of the weapons, Elvo decides to test that shotgun weapon out first, she has a drone load the four shells into it's break action, the drone aims at some targets and fires, the combine might of all four 4 gauge rounds forces the combat drone back a little as the weapons boom echos throughout the ship, causing Za'vara to come running in to see what's going on... a good tool for boarding and fending off such attacks but would need some improvements.

Magnum smirks "Quite a shotgun, the knights are going to have fun with that." as he continues to eye the suit systems.

The coyote looks to him "Please, your interested in having such a weapon too." enjoying his optimism for a change.

Za'vara is just stunned "Shotgun?! The thing sounds like a cannon!", she looks at the all the material laying around, she catches her breath "Such wonders though, there doesn't look to be any rust or any deterioration at all."

The mystic tests an arm joint "Some stiffness, but other then that it's serviceable." impressed with the mechanics, he looks to Elvo "I am curious though when it comes to the composition of it's armor and the rumors that surround it."

The vixen looks to him "Rumors?" with a raised eyebrow.

Magnum brings up a plate from the right arm "Yes, legend has it that the Order of Cerberus had created a form of armor that protected them from the attacks of demons and other cosmic foes, unfortunately they took that secret to the grave with them. It's a tale as old as the Knights Orders themselves.", he picks up a scanner "If we can unlock such a secret it would finally give us the edge we need."

Elvo begins to look at the data generated by the shotgun "I can search the files and see of we can find the formula for the armor."

Za'vara blinks before closing her eyes completely, she opens them "Who knows, maybe they played a few things close to the chest." with a witty smile.

The a.i. and mystic glance at each other, Magnum nods as he decides to play along, Elvo has a drone remove the chest piece and there is a small cavity where there looks to be a lock-box of some kind. The vixens eyes shine with amusement as she practically skips out of the room as the two stand there, stunned at the display.

Magnum breaks the silence "We are never going to get use to that... are we?"

Elvo gently shakes her head "More then likely, but we'll adapt sooner or later."

The coyote begins to examine the lockbox as the mystic decides to take a break, Elvo did say the materials present in the armor, but they needed to learn it's exact construction, if they could replicate the legendary armor and distribute it to the other orders, the knights would be able to deal with such horrors far more easily... even his armor fared little better against these monstrosities if at all, due to the energy they are made from. The mystic is hoping that the rumors, the legends of the Cerberus were true...

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Koress is listening to Karzo and Avecta and their protest over what has just occurred, the stallion simply rolling his eyes at them.

The mongoose states "We should have forced our knightly hand and taken hold of it, I can understand share of information and developments... but allowing the mystic to claim such a prize?"

Koress finally speaks "Magnum will yield results from the vessel when he can, if the deeds of Cerberus are true he will find it and spread the information to every order and the core world. Besides, with everything he has done, he has earned such a ship, the Hunter of the Damned will make a great addition to his arsenal. If not he'll donate it to a museum and aspire future generations, in our hands it'll be used until it falls apart, but in his it'll last either another 30,000 years or it'll leave a mark that'll last for eternity."

Karzo weighs those words in "You are leaving the fate of a relic from when the Knight Orders were young in the hands of a Freeblade? That is one heck of a wild card we are playing with."

The stallion gives an amused chuckle "He has been a wild card before he was even a knight, he maybe an ace of spades but he has always worked in our favor. Magnum's powers have always been a cause for concern, but his combat and crusade record speaks for itself, he could have destroyed us at any time but he didn't."

The panther's eyes shift for a moment "That is exactly why many Knight Orders are concerned, he has proven to be a reliant and stalwart knight, but his powers are extremely potent, his beam attack alone is legendary as was able to destroy an entire warfleet. Also, recent development regarding the buster rifle and the Albion have risen many concerns as well."

This side-worthy debate is ultimately dismissed by Koress, he was indeed concerned before with the display of the weapon, however the mystic in the end asked for help in trying to perfect the design and he even confirmed himself that the mystic was more then willy to share the technology with them, it wasn't the first for such an arrangement to occur after all. His mind did turn to this crusade however, there were signs of recent cult activity but nothing has turned up thus far... that means the enemy is going towards the center to put some distance between them and the crusade force, he decides to sent the thought to the mystic via quick text transmission.

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Magnum sees the Master's message, the theory was solid and it would make sense, true distant scanners couldn't pick up anything outside of the Reaper Sector... but now that they were in it, that could be just what they need.

The wolf looks to the coyote "Elvo, I can handle this for now, Master Koress thinks the enemy maybe meeting up somewhere, I need a full scan of the Reaper Sector done with every sensor and detection method, including scanning for sighs of cloaking and other stealth technology."

Elvo glances to him "I'll have to connect our array to the other ships to compensate and to assist in the scanning, but it shouldn't be a problem to convince them."

Elvo communicates with the other ships with Marouge and and the Master's of the Everglaive giving the all clear to use their scanners. Thermal, sonar, wave detection, distortion emulators, light conversion with star charts, the a.i. is using every scan knows even experimental ones... a smile crosses her face and she finally sees detection signatures towards the core of the entire sector, she gets the mystics attention and he opens a channel to the other commanders.

Magnum states "Using some of the more intensive scanning methods, the cults have converged to the center of the sector, hence why we haven't enountered any fortresses or fleets. Based on the data Elvo gathered, the enemy has been using all kinds of stealth technology and from what we can tell the fleet is a mix of various ship sizes, from cutters to possibly even battle cruisers, we have even detected what we think maybe a station of some kind but we can't officially tell."

The looks on the Masters and Marouge show they approve of the information given and how it makes sense, but it was a long jump... about two months on standard and roughly three or four weeks at maximum output, give or take how the guidance systems process it. More onto that, they are hoping that the Albion will see combat in this upcoming battle and everyone wanted to see if the rumors were true then they could upgrade their equipment... but the mystic does put forth, that if this plan was thought out by who he think it is, they may very well have little time, but he does state that once he figures it all out he can transmit the results to the entire fleet, especially the knights in the other crusading forces. It was a huge gamble for sure, but in the end they agree to head to the gathered signatures in full force, the mystic however knows that the only way he can test the Albion now is via simulations which will make finishing the suit more difficult, but he was more then up to the challenge.

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Nara is standing in front of her new cultists, the ship was slowly coming under her control... but she knows that they are converging on the coordinates of her gathered forces, her plan needed to work if she was going to pull off the twisted vision she had, the contact she had been going back and forth being informed to put the ceremony in action, they'll have to make do with what they had. The vixen knows she has to choose her words carefully, but as she goes over the math in her head... these people are the fodder she needs to finish her plan if it all checks out.

Nara spreads her arms "Brothers and sisters, right now the mystic and the knights are approaching where the main congregation are located, they seek to destroy all that we build and stand for. The runes and riches are what they fear, they fear the symbol that they call the curved seven. In order for salvation to be found... we must open the gateway to the ether and from there we shall ascend and be chosen for greatness."

Len takes the situation in, he has witnessed Nara wield the arcane and through her they have seen visions of glory... their glory. He knows that Marouge will never forgive him for any of this, but he was motivated to join such a community and take his place as a chosen, he did fear one thing though... the mystic wolf that had started all of this, he was powerful and he knows if he crossed his path he would be no match for him. With most of not the entire crew having been converted to this new faith, Len and his crew would follow Nara, for from their point of view she had freed them from the shackles they once had, if this was the will of the faith then they will follow blindly.

Len steps towards her "What needs to be done?"

The vixen looks to him "Once we leave jump space, we must plunge into the coordinates I give you and chant the sacred hymn, the ceremony is in full swing there and they are waiting on us, you will shed these mortal shells and ascend as a result, the blood you release will bring about a new age, an age where freedom shall replace their false order. The Knight Orders continue these crusades and hunt us down, we must make them see the error of their ways!"

Those gathered begin to cheer, giving their commitment to this course of action, unfortunately for them Nara had them in her web, their blood was going to be used but for her benefit and here's alone, just like those gathered for her plan, even her contact who had been assisting her she saw to be thrown away when the time came. But she was reflecting on one major detail... the ship that they encountered earlier, no details were shared among the fleet, which means the only ones that really knew were those in command and those that went over there. She isn't sure if Magnum knew she was there, how could he? Her charm made that impossible. That means he was playing this close to the chest and keeping what ever cards he had in play in reserve.

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It's been two weeks since the fleet entered their synced jump, given they decided to use maximum output they are coming down to the wire and they needed to solve the armor that the Order of Cerberus used, Elvo was able to crack the combination of the lock-box thanks to her 3-D imaging scanner, the mystic has given this such a high priority that he has been ingesting caffeine nearly en mass for the past week much to everyone's concern... and then... they have it, the composition and layout of the armor.

Elvo looks it over "An iron-silver composite laced with tungsten and a thin film of gold, which has some form of text embedded on a near microscopic scale on each material before being filled with bronze. These symbols must be the key but they also seem to interact withe materials given in some way."

The mystic yawns "We must pass the information to the Masters of all the crusading forces and to the other allies. And we must retrofit all active power armors with this armor system."

The coyote looks to him, the wolf was exhausted and he was having trouble focusing. She can handle that task and with the Albion near completion, all that needed to be done was to finish the suits buster rifle and the armor panels for the wings to it, she can handle that as well while the wolf slept... that was it though, he needed rest.

Elvo goes over to him "Brother, go get some rest, I can handle what needs to be done. When the battle comes we need you at full awareness and capacity."

Magnum sighs "You're right, I'll go hit the pillow but if anything comes up please let me know." knowing she was right and he really just wanted to sleep,

The mystic says his good night to her and she does the same to him, she sighs once he leaves, it has been a long time since he worked like this but it was always something that worried her. But she always wondered what end result Magnum had in mind for himself, he had fled his home to the heavens in search for purpose sure, but what was it leading up to? She always wondered that part since they started doing this, since he began to deliver retribution upon the wicked and evil.

Some tears form in Elvo's digital eyes 'Magnum, please tell me when this fighting will end. When will you break away from this life? I just want you to find peace and live your life brother!'

Magnum enters his room, he lays down, not even bothering to cover himself with the blankets, he glances to a nearby mirror as his mind begins to wander "If it is you... I'll ruin your plans like I always have, I'll crush those you suckered with your lies. But answer me this... what will take to finally kill you? I've lost how many times I have done just that.", his eyes turn to a glare "You were the first! You were the one who finished what my mother couldn't.... why won't you just go away already?!" and he finally falls asleep.

Za'vara is looking out into the alluring nature of jump space, she was almost there to finish her objective, she knows what she has to do and what must be done, she just had to do it.

To be continued...