The group was quiet and afraid of what they had just experienced.
They thought that they had the power and technology to slip into the ship of the Principal easily and even found a way for hyperspace travel that moved at the speed of light. But now, they realized that their lofty fantasies were meaningless. They had seen just how weak and incapable they were before a Principal.
"...That was... too scary!" Meryl sighed.
"Too scary is an understatement..." Irvana spoke.
"So this is the gap between Presiders and Principals..." Madelyne trembled. She had served Pridgeon and had seen the peak power of the Top Tiers. But now, she realized she was practically a fool for thinking that the power they could have with the alliance of the Progenitor would cross the distance.
"At least our way is still set. We can infiltrate the large ship." Lowengren sighed.
"What if it's a trap?" Gardo asked.
"He wasn't lying. At least from what I can tell."
"...This is all a game to him. Then let's play it. Until we become strong enough, we take advantage of his boredom." Seeker answered.
The team made their preparations and discussions, and soon the time to end the warp jump had arrived.
"Ending warp jump. Everyone, keep up that signal and prepare for our retreat if we get discovered." Lennox V 3.3.0 was ordered.
The Void Realm was opening up as the Paths and powers were rescinding, and they finally appeared.
The ship was cloaked, and the massive planet, Saturn, could be seen from afar, and another massive structure was moving next to it. It was larger than the moon of Earth and could easily be larger than some of the countries of Earth!
"There it is. I can't believe it would be so big." Seeker saw it as they finally returned to the three dimensions.
At that moment, the massive Orbital began to flash a strange green light that covered it up.
"What's that? Did they find us?!" Madelyne cursed.
"No... That looks like... a power opposite to Desolation." Lynd frowned.
"It is. It is like it's repairing the ship." Seeker could also see the metals coming back and reforming.
"He's creating metals to cover the ship! Is that... Principal Dormin?"
"...It could be his strategy to make the Presiders incapable of detecting our ship. We better move closer. But be ready to leap back to the Void Realm."
The ship carefully approached. It had no light and sound, and the energy was contained from within. The Sun Devourer Suit that Shackstress had proved useful, and with Meryl's help, it created a mini black hole that could devour light and other intangible elements.
The ship moved slowly toward the Orbital, and they could see the metals reforming. Apart from this, it was obvious that a terrifying battle occurred that tore the massive ship apart from the inside out.
"Look at that place... It's like it has the land area of half of the United States of America. But even then, it looks like the war nearly destroyed it. Only the fixed part of the Orbital keeps it stable. I can see numerous efforts to fix the ship, but now..." Lennox observed.
"Principal Dormin is acting. Is this a trap? Or is he covering for us and using this to improve our chances of sneaking in?"
"Let's go. Just be ready for anything."
With Seeker's command, the team moved closer.
Many paths were used to prevent them from being seen. But as they moved closer to the ship, there was no action or retribution.
"It looks like the Death Star in Return of the Jedi." Vender spoke.
"When did you wake up?!" Seeker cursed.
But Vender watched in amazement and ignored Seeker.
Everyone was nervous since Vender was awake. But they knew that Vender's power was very eccentric but reliable.
The group continued to move at the back of the large Orbital.
They moved through the outer layers of the ship and had officially 'entered' the ship.
What they saw was outside of their expectations. They expected a massive structure of the metal. But it was here they realized that what was inside the shell was a miniature planet!
The outer shell acted as the atmosphere, and there was life inside. The light of the sun was being redirected into the planet inside. Some areas were still damaged and had grown dark because of the lack of a 'roof' over the skies.
"Our initial scans show that this is a planet. Right now, there seems to be a lot of wilderness and blank spaces. It's probably because of the battles that this place faced and that this has merged with the previous Orbital that the Presiders used." Lennox spoke.
"This is... vastly different from the Orbital that Garenjazz spoke to us. Madelyne?" Lowengren asked.
"...I would have no idea either. I only rode one Orbital, and it was to use Vender's phrase, similar to the Death Star. This is... new to me too!" Madelyne was amazed.
"Well, that ship was probably made by Principals for Presiders to use. This is a Principal's ship. You might even say that this place is the Principal's planet!"
"So that's what Garenjazz meant by 'gathering planets'." Seeker recalled one of the many talks he had with Garenjazz at his defeat.
"Principals and Primes would capture powerful planets and make a bid of who owns it. I'm guessing Earth is one of the good ones..."
"Right. I'm detecting metal types of unique constitutions. Some, even equal to Almetal!" Lennox reported.
"Guinevere. Land on the ground. Let's try using Realm. Lynd! Cliff! Help me out to make a sonar scan."
"Won't that alert many others?" Harker asked.
"No. I've been sensing numerous sonar pings happening. I'm guessing the Presiders are using that to watch each other. So a new one won't seem suspicious, right?" Seeker asked.
"It won't. Besides, if people scout us, we can disappear." Lennox answered.
Guinevere followed and landed the ship on the ground.
Seeker, Lynd, and Cliff harnessed their paths and made a powerful sonar pulse that radiated downwards.
"Hm? There are cities below us!"
"Right. Another 'level' lies beneath this. And I'm guessing, based on the orbital size, there should be another level further." Lynd added.
"Man... This place is huge! It's like a matryoshka doll!" Cliff was amazed.
"What do we do now? Is it safe to assume that the Principal meant us to sneak in here?" Lowengren asked.
"Let's scout around first. From the looks of this place, there should be millions and millions of people living here."
"If this place is like this, it should have at least five million people on this ship. There were roughly three million on the last orbital. About half of us served another Presider. The remainder were free Pioneers. But each Pioneer family could easily have hundreds of Planteds serving us." Madelyn explained.
"Let's go. If the battle between Presiders were intense, many Presiders who died would lose command over thousands and thousands. Let's use this to our advantage. I sensed a city to the west. Let's go there and see the state of things. We need to gather more information about what we found. From here on end, let's pretend to be a fleeing Pioneer group that is being chased by another. Our Presider died, and we are just looking for someplace to hide. This ship is one of our Presider's greatest inventions. We could say that we are direct descendants of a Presider but will keep our identities a secret in case we would attract enemies. Lynd. Cliff. Let's try to use Alean's Path. We need to go somewhere that can help us. Let's use Zone." Seeker gave his orders.
"And my name is Ben Kenobi," Vender added.
No one cared, and the ship flew.
The group flew over the inner layer of the Orbital.
They saw cities, gardens, and massive plots of land with dirt. Some areas were filled with rocks and metals. There were mountains inside, other places that showed signs of immense battles, and numerous metals lying around. They would also find several massive holes on the grounds, and the underground region couldn't be seen.
"Amazing. It's really like a planet! There are mountains in here!" Meryl was amazed.
The group was amazed as they saw the sights inside. And what was amazing was how unaware everyone was of them.
"Be on your guard. We could still be in a trap." Lynd reminded.
"... I can sense several anomalies. Numerous places where the three dimensions are changed are located on several spots of this place. I'm guessing that's where the Presiders lie. One of which is to the north of this place. We're probably some fifty kilometers from it." Rai reported.
"Let's get out of here." Seeker decided, and the group flew until they reached a place where no anomalies were nearby.
As they flew, the group came across a battle.
Several vehicles were plowing through the vast wilderness and were shooting at another vehicle.
The team saw it and knew that this was the opportunity they needed.
"Is everyone in accord that our Zone is telling us to save the other vehicle?" Seeker asked.
"I'll go." Gardo volunteered.
"Me too!" Vender added. Nobody knew how he had it, but Vender was wearing the attire of Obi-wan Kenobi.
"Gardo. Go. Vender, could you just... go to sleep or something?!" Seeker cursed.
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