Flying with one working leg wasn’t a problem. The issues started when Khan met new debris over the vast cavity connected to the underground graveyard, which he had spent some effort finding.
The sand was easy enough to deal with, but the other debris was annoying. The rocks and soil were still fine, but the metal shards shared the Nak’s remains’ fabric, so Khan’s shockwave could affect them once he tuned it to that material.
In short, after a certain point, Khan was forced to dig by hand again, fighting against the pain and numbness radiated by his right leg. Crawling through the debris was even worse, but nothing sheer determination and many suppressed curses couldn’t deal with.
It took a while, but Khan eventually returned to the underground chamber. However, the whole area changed after the battle. A lot of sand and debris had fallen onto the graveyard, covering almost half of it. Most of Nak’s remains were buried under them, and Khan couldn’t check their condition until he dug them out.
Still, luckily, Khan couldn’t sense anything strange inside the underground chamber. No new colonies had arrived to claim the area so Khan could work in peace. He didn’t know how long that would last, so he started digging as soon as he finished assessing the situation.
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Khan limped over the small dunes in the underground chamber, checking the world under his feet and destroying anything he felt safe destroying. The sand was easy to remove, but everything else required more attention, slowing down the process.
Slowly, hulls started to pop out, allowing Khan to study those ships’ conditions. Those vehicles had remained intact for millennia, but the battle had broken the underground chamber’s safety, and the cascade of debris inevitably dealt damage.
The ships’ old age worsened the breach’s effects, putting Khan before far more cracks and damage than he recalled. He couldn’t even find all the previously seen remains. His best lead in a while was ruined.
However, the situation wasn’t beyond repair. At least, Khan hoped so. It only added new challenges to the task, forcing him to alter his plans.
Khan had initially planned to make additional trips between the surface and underground chamber, carrying remains to study for his ship. However, he didn’t know when the next attack would come, and each movement could worsen the damage those Nak’s remains had already suffered. Chuwei’s sandstorms also added another variable, so Khan opted for the safest but concerning option.
Khan returned to the vast cavity, paying extra attention when crossing the new lid formed after his descent. He marked the area with his mana before flying over the desert to head back to his ship, using his senses and phone as navigators.
Finding the ship didn’t take long, and Khan dealt with all its defensive measures before returning to the safety of its insides, activating various functions. Many menus lit up, and Khan sat on the vehicle’s cold floor to massage his temples and sort out his words.
"Highlight all the necessary equipment for scans and studies of alien remains," Khan ordered, "And show me the required steps to remove the ship’s mainframe safely."
The ship complied, occasionally responding through its robotic voice. Screens appeared on the surfaces around Khan, but he turned them into holograms, allowing him to study them without changing location.
Khan browsed through the lists and explanations while massaging his stretched right leg. His limb had regained some use but still hurt. It also felt weak and numb, begging Khan for some rest.
Khan ignored his leg’s pleas and focused on the holograms, his eyes occasionally falling on his uniform. His left forearm was completely exposed, showing many cuts. His right one wasn’t much better, but his conclusion had nothing to do with his injuries.
’I should just go sleeveless,’ Khan thought. ’It’s pointless to have sleeves if I keep tearing them anyway.’
Khan did precisely as he thought, ripping off what remained of his sleeves and exposing his shoulders. The new attire made him look like some savage barbarian, but he didn’t care. If Lord Mighty could walk around shirtless, so could Khan.
After reviewing the lists and guides a few times, Khan stood up, grunting when his right leg hit the floor. He seized a container big enough for the mission before gathering the highlighted equipment. The sealed bag was bigger and heavier than Khan had hoped, but he didn’t complain since he could still lift it.
The part Khan dreaded came next. Khan limped into the bridge, going through a seemingly endless barrage of security measures to unlock a secret and protected opening on the floor. The area grew brighter as a thick array of tubes came to light, converging toward the spherical chip at its center.
Khan dealt with the following security measures, retrieved the chip, and stored it in a previously prepared container. Most of the ship went dark afterward, only relying on auxiliary energy to perform basic functions, which Khan tinkered with to prepare for the departure.
The ship’s shield depleted a lot of auxiliary energy without the mainframe, so Khan deactivated it as soon as he stepped out of the vehicle. His aura temporarily fended off the storm while manually sealing everything he needed to protect his ride. He even checked his word a few times before flying away, planning to return to the underground graveyard.
The large bag on Khan’s back only made the descent into Chuwei’s underground world more annoying, but he took his time, paying close attention not to break anything. He didn’t want to make any more trips than necessary, so the night arrived by the time he returned to the graveyard.
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The underground environment had changed once again due to Khan’s passage, but he simply got to work, repeating the uncovering process before placing his equipment down. He checked that everything functioned before setting up a simple lab, as well as a mainframe-powered small console to process all the data.
Then, Khan sat on the layer of sand and debris, waiting for his equipment to bring some good news.