“Attention, Decaylings!”
Retvik, Litvir and Arkadin all straightened themselves out as they entered Itaviir’s rather luxurious office, having been led in by the two other Decay Lords, Galyn and Vikalos.
“What is going on?” Litvir immediately asked, more curious than anything else about this sudden activity from the much larger, much slower beings. His curiosity was swiftly answered by Itaviir, standing up from his desk and showing just how much larger the Decay Lords were.
“We have a mission. A mission that requires you three.”
“A mission that requires us?”
“Indeed.”
Galyn stepped forward, pulling out a large scroll. He unravelled the scroll, revealing some diagrams. The pictures looked crude at first, like messy scribbles. But upon closer inspection, the drawings were clearly a top-down layout of some sort of location, split into several layers or floors.
“We have discovered a location…” Galyn began to explain, tapping on the scroll. “We believe it to be an abandoned Sentient Lump, the remains of some sort of union between a Life Goddess and a Voidborn. While it is of no use to Life Goddesses, Voidborns often use these Sentient Lumps to hide transmitters, store data or place spy tech, allowing them to survey the local environment.”
“Normally we would leave these Lumps alone,” Itaviir continued, taking over from Galyn. “We would rather not get into unneeded conflicts with the Voidborn. But it seems that this Lump was recently abandoned by the Voidborns and we want to find out why. The only issue is that us Decay Lords have a habit of attracting too much attention. So we are going to send the three of you in there to grab what you can and get out.”
“So…” Retvik muttered. “You want us to do reconnaissance?”
“Yes.”
“Because you are too big to physically fit inside the, uh, lump?” Litvir asked.
“Yes.”
“And how do we do that?” Litvir was clearly full of questions. “Will you just give us some sort of hacking device, beam us down, have us scan the place and then beam us back?”
Itaviir nodded, pointing at various areas on Galyn’s map. “Basically, yes. Each of you will be handed an automated hacker-tracker, which will not only allow us to view your location but will, hopefully, allow us access to any surveillance technology on board the Lump. What you will need to do is find three main terminals inside the Lump, install a separate hacker-tracker on each terminal and then head to the extraction area marked on the map here. A simple task, as long as you do not disturb what is already on board.”
“And… wait, what is on board?” Litvir had more questions, but that last sentence caught him and the other Decaylings off guard. “Is there something alive on there?”
“Most likely, no. But there may be automated defences, both left by Voidborns and the Life Goddess who created the lump. As long as you are careful and quiet, it should not be an issue.”
“What sort of automated defences?” Litvir pushed. “Are we talking about massive robots? Clouds of gas? A whole Voidborn? What?”
Itaviir smiled, leaning down to Litvir. “I like you. You ask questions…” The Decay Lord then reached towards his desk and handed each of the Decaylings a small file. “A written brief has been prepared for all three of you. Your equipment is waiting for you your personal quarters. Get yourselves suited up, go through the briefs, then meet Galyn in the Cargo Bay in two hours.”
As soon as Itaviir was done speaking, Vikalos immediately grabbed the three Decaylings and led them out of the room, before disappearing back inside Itaviir’s office, slamming the door behind him.
Retvik, Arkadin and Litvir all stared at each other.
“He didn’t answer your question…” Arkadin muttered.
“Indeed…” Litvir frowned.
Retvik however just shrugged. “I am sure we will be fine. We are capable Decaylings, after all!”
“If you say so…” Arkadin grunted as he headed off down the main corridor. “Let’s get ourselves suited up and go through those briefs together…”