The spaceship hurtled through the void of space at four hundred kilometers per second.
Beyond the distant stars, there was little to see; only the occasional speck of cosmic dust struck the indestructible shield, the Aegis, and shattered into nothingness.
Six days had elapsed since the construction ship Vulcan departed from Planet Ars.
"Voyage proceeding smoothly. We are about to begin deceleration."
Cosmos 501, the golem serving as the Vulcan's captain, delivered her regular status report to Laojun on Hourai Island.
"Laojun acknowledges. Continue with the mission."
"Vulcan acknowledges."
Retro-thrust was engaged, and the Vulcan began to slow at a rate of 3G.
The ship’s primary destination was a point on Ars’s orbital path, ninety degrees—one-quarter of the way—ahead of the planet. Since Hale sat on the opposite side of Sun Celane, 180 degrees ahead of Ars, this point served as the midway station.
"Deactivate the Aegis once the speed drops to fifty kilometers per second. Switch to the standard barrier."
"Acknowledged."
Reports received after their departure suggested a high probability that the Hale side had also established relay bases in space. Whether such a base would be on this side of the orbit or the opposite side—270 degrees ahead—remained unknown. If a relay base did exist, there was a fifty-fifty chance they would encounter it.
The Vulcan aimed for its designated position, its sensing-type Magi Machines fully mobilized.
"Object detected ahead. Horizontal angle ten degrees, vertical angle fifteen degrees up."
The report came from the detection department just as the ship slowed to five kilometers per second.
"Good. Change course. Let's approach with caution."
"Acknowledged."
The Vulcan maintained its speed of five kilometers per second, drawing closer to the object via inertial navigation. At this velocity, the ship could either come to a dead stop or break away using its maximum acceleration of 30G if the situation turned dire.
"Distance: 100,000 meters."
They were now close enough to observe the object clearly using optical systems. The entity was projected onto the large magi-screen on the Vulcan's bridge. Simultaneously, the visual data was transmitted to Laojun on Hourai Island.
"That is an interesting shape."
The object was hemispherical. While its exact dimensions were yet to be measured, it appeared to be somewhere between five and twenty kilometers in diameter. It was a truly massive structure.
"Distance: 50,000 meters."
As they closed the gap, finer details became visible. Perhaps because the Vulcan was approaching with minimal use of its propulsion systems, the object showed no reaction.
"Wake up the Peeping Telescope, the Peeper."
From this distance, even a small-class Peeper could observe the target with perfect clarity. The Vulcan activated the device, and the feed was immediately relayed back to Hourai Island.
The morning of December 20th.
When the report from the Vulcan reached Hourai Island, Jin received the results in the command room.
"I see. So there really was one out there."
"Yes, My Lord. Just as we suspected, the Hale side appears to have constructed their own relay bases."
"A hemisphere, though... Is it artificial? Or did they remodel an asteroid?"
"That should become clear once we get a bit closer."
As they watched the distance close, the Vulcan activated its Peeper.
"Yeah, the image is stable at this range."
"Yes. If the mounting were loose, the image would shake, but it is steady like this."
"Wait, look at this..."
On the outside, the object looked like a sphere sliced in half. The flat, severed face was pointed toward Sun Celane. Scattered across that flat surface were several facilities that resembled buildings. Their design was hauntingly familiar.
"The design is remarkably similar to the mobile base."
"Yes, My Lord. They may share the same designer," Laojun agreed.
The transmitted footage moved even closer until it reached the surface.
"It does indeed appear to be an artificial construct."
The hemispherical portion was made of metal; it was not a hollowed-out asteroid. The footage then switched to the interior of the facilities on the flat surface.
"It's empty."
"Completely empty, isn't it?"
It gave the impression of a massive warehouse. The camera feed pushed further into the structure.
"Oh, we're finally going into the interior of the hemisphere."
"This appears to be a storage area for materials."
Countless small rooms were lined up inside. Since they lacked doors, the contents were easy to see.
"Magi-crystals, iron ore, copper ore... maybe?"
"It seems so... I also see mithril ore and adamantite ore."
"But there's less than I expected. Did they just finish shipping a load to Hale?"
"That is unknown, but it is highly possible they were shipping materials out as soon as they reached a certain quota."
The footage moved on to another section.
"Is the power out?"
"It appears so, My Lord."
"Are these lights AL?"
"They seem to be emergency lights using Ether Light (AL)."
"In any case, proceed with caution. Let's investigate this thoroughly."
"I understand."
For another hour, the Peeper was used to exhaustively scout the interior of the hemisphere.
"Hmm... it's definitely non-functional. The question is whether it has the potential to restart."
"And whether there is a brain overseeing the facility as well," Laojun added.
"It would be helpful if we could determine why it stopped."
Despite the Peeper's capabilities, the facility was vast. Jin eventually decided to step back and leave the detailed analysis to Laojun, knowing his subordinate could process the information dozens of times faster than he could.
Thirty minutes later, another report came in.
"My Lord, please look at this."
Laojun displayed a new image on the command room's magi-screen.
"Is that... a hole?"
"Yes. It was likely caused by a meteorite impact."
"A fragment of the long-period planet, Modenu?"
"No, it does not align with the trajectory of those fragments. This hole is much older."
The hole projected on the screen was roughly ten meters in diameter. Debris that appeared to be meteorite fragments was scattered nearby.
"It looks like a direct hit on the energy facility."
"But would a massive base like this really shut down just from that?"
Jin knew that critical facilities and equipment were usually distributed rather than centralized in a single magical pole to avoid total system failure.
"That is exactly as you say. We will require more detailed information."
Jin and Laojun settled in to wait for further updates.