The lights flickered, died, flickered again and then finally came back to life. The newly re-illuminated chamber revealed a mismatched scene of computers, workstations, diagnostic equipment and more in the process of being dismantled. Side by side with these and the piles of paper notes hastily thrown into boxes that had only the barest thought of organization given to them were ancient foreign terminals of unknown make and origin too ingrained in their surroundings to move.

  Far overhead the muffled sound of explosions could be heard. It was a surprise that at so far underground the Velan shelling of Maresh could still be heard but with the disruption of power it seemed the battle was only getting closer. Time was running out and Dr. Alvah Breshill knew it.

  “Alright everybody, power is back on, get back to it.” Alvah called out to her subordinates and colleagues as the final bulbs revived.

  The bustling of activity, purposeful and urgent, resumed as researchers, archaeologists and scientists, the best of the best, packed their research and instruments in a desperate bid to save what they could before the enemy arrived. Alvah returned her attention to the skirit she’d been speaking to before power had been lost.

  “No Dr. Rigar, leave the computers in chamber two until last.” she continued, her aged and darkened skin reflecting experience gathered over many years and her sharp glare imbuing an intelligence matched by none in her field. “It’s imperative that the diagnostics and deep scans of the data crystals there be complete if we’re to decipher the relics in site D at Lardley.”

  ‘Dr. Breshill,’ Dr. Rigar, who was somehow slimmer and shorter than her, replied in his dragon tongue, ‘Captain Pickor has ordered that chamber cleared to begin setting demolitions. I’m sorry, I tried to protest but he would not listen. There was nothing I could do.’ She could recognize the frustration edging into his words, it was a frustration shared.

  “Delay them, make excuses, I don’t care how you do it, just make sure that diagnostic completes. You know how important this is to our work.”

  ‘I know, but…’

  “Now is not the time for excuses, now go. I’ll deal with Pickor.”

  Dr. Rigar nodded and scurried off obediently. Alvah stood there and her gaze followed him out the chamber. As lead archaeologist and principle investigator she was afforded the respect and authority she rightly deserved and was used to getting what she wanted. At least from those who worked under her. The Aren military, which acted as security for their most top secret of ventures, was another matter. Technically she had jurisdiction but they had colourful ways of interpreting that authority and had always used that creativity to be a thorn in her side.

  Scanning the room for any sign of Pickor she only found her personnel swiftly packing research and materials away and regular soldiers moving heavy equipment out of the chamber to transports above.

  Not here. She thought and made her way towards the passageway Dr. Rigar had just left through to try another section of the facility.

  Passing the first of three rows of advanced holographic terminals that lined the oval chamber, Alvah glanced at the central platform which she surmised housed a long dormant holographic display so sophisticated it could create holograms malleable by physical touch. The technology in this chamber, in this facility and the others like it was so far beyond their own it made their greatest achievements look like the products of a child in a sandpit. Alvah lamented the fact that they’d been unsuccessful in reactivating the technology of this room and that the mysteries of this place may soon be lost forever.

  Discovered only six months prior when excavators of the Maresh restoration initiative stumbled upon a collapsed underground passage left behind by the orbital bombardment two years earlier, there was little doubt of what found beneath was not of human or dragon origin. Once word reached her ears of the new discovery, Alvah quickly assembled an elite team of her best and relocated to Maresh. She would be the first among her peers to explore the first major find in over two decades, for this was not her first exposure to such wonders.

  Renowned, at least for those with appropriate clearance, Alvah was the foremost expert on these ancient facilities from a civilization long since gone and forgotten. Tapped by the government in her university years for her drive, ambition and intelligence she had been introduced to the first of these facilities when she’d proven her prudence for subtlety and ability to hold her tongue. The mystery consumed her, just as her benefactors had intended, and she spent the next several decades researching and exploring similar facilities strewn across the country. Each place was different, serving a key function that she had barely scratched the surface of understanding. And that there lay the problem.

  The problem with relying on funding from third parties is that those providing it are usually impatient in their desire for a return on their so called investments. Whether private or government they all believed themselves entitled to profits from these scientific endeavors of discovery. They never concerned themselves with the simple delight of the discovery, of the knowledge revealed, and the understanding of the unknown. They only wanted more money or in the case of the government, the technology to build bigger weapons.

  And without the fulfillment of those predetermined promises, of decades of minimal advances in their understanding of the other facilities and their technology, funding had begun to dry up. The very ones who brought her into this world of wonder had been ready to hang her out to dry. That was until Maresh’s discovery was revealed. She could almost kiss Admiral Parna for this gift if not for the moral baggage attached to the gesture but regardless of how it came about she’d been given another chance.

  Centuries of neglect and exposure to the elements had weathered the facility to a state of near decay, just as it had all the others, but not so much they couldn’t start combing everything top to bottom and begin cataloging, investigating and piecing together the history of this place, who made it, and what it was for.

  Her long history of research into these ancient facilities and the dialect favored by them gave Alvah a head start and she quickly discovered that what they had stumbled upon could be the answer to their otherwise slow progress. From what she had deciphered she believed they had found a primary control chamber meant to service the entire region, a major find to say the very least.

  But nothing was that simple. Despite the restoration of power and advances in recent weeks the terminals and holograms had failed to reactivate and without direct control they were forced to scrape data by directly interfacing their own technology, centuries behind the hosts, to gather what limited information they could.

  And just as importantly, without direct control of the facility they had had limited success in establishing direct connections with any other facility, known or unknown, in hopes of reactivating some of the dormant technology that seemed to stubbornly stay silent no matter how much they probed and prodded. About the best they could do was turn up the lights, which had been admittedly helpful deep underground.

  She only needed more time. Time no one was willing to give her.

  Exiting the control chamber she strode down the passageway, the walls moving with lighted glyphs as she passed, and turned right at the first intersection. Chamber two was her first destination, if Pickor was pushing his demolitions plan that hard he’d be there.

  The floor shook and dust floated down from above as a distant, resounding boom echoed from the ceiling. At first Alvah feared the worst, Pickor wouldn’t dare start already, would he? But no, it was too early with many personnel yet to evacuate. The Velan assault above was only getting fiercer, and much closer.

  It was the worst possible time, they were on the cusp of something great she knew it. Despite the slow progress, recent advances had lead her to believe that missing or damaged components of the ancient technology were preventing the terminals from activating. If they could determine what they needed and how to replicate it with the information already scraped then they may just finally establish full control of the facility. It was a long shot but if it panned out the pieces of this puzzle would finally begin falling into place but this damn war just had to get in her way.

  The passageway rattled again and Alvah quickened her step. She passed a crew moving boxes towards the surface trying to save what research they had but there just weren’t enough people left to save everything. Not only had most of the security detail previously assigned to them been conscripted to defending the city above but so had members of her own research team. Doctors Trevor Pent and Armelle Livia, whose expertise were instrumental in restoring power to the facility, were now likely relegated to the role of lowly mechanics repairing anything damaged in the battle above. Specialist Targar Rosters was also gone, his expertise going to waste flying blindly around the city for who knows what purpose. Even Dr. Bell had been taken.

  Dr. Elena Bell. A brilliant biologist with commendable knowledge in human physiology but her expertise in the human body was not where her specialty lay for her knowledge and understanding of dragon physiology was substantial and unmatched. And not just for any one of the dragon species but for all of them. This expertise raised her above her peers to be a leading expert in dragon biology, quite the feat for a human.

  It was in fact this expertise in dragon biology that brought her to Alvah’s attention in the first place. Throughout her career Elena was at the forefront of research into a cure to the sterility that had plagued dragonkind for centuries. No one knew how it came about or when but there had not been one recorded dragon birth since the dark ages. What once was a concerning inconvenience had become an existential crisis. Time waited for no one and as each day passed dragons found themselves inching ever closer to extinction. It had already happened once and it would happen again, it was only a matter of time.

  It was this endeavor that Elena had chosen to throw the weight of her expertise behind. A solution to dragon infertility would have been profound and solidified her name in the history books. Years of effort and influence was spent on the undertaking but it all ultimately came to naught. A series of setbacks and dead ends tarnished Elena’s reputation and smothered her once promising career. She fell to the wayside until a second chance in this very place came knocking, and at Alvah’s personal request, she came running.

  Alvah couldn’t imagine what Elena had gone through when her life’s work collapsed under its own weight. The sense of everything you’d worked towards coming to nothing but humiliation and ruin. But in a way it was oddly relatable.

  Now in her mid fifties Alvah had poured the last thirty years of her life into these ancient relics. It was almost an obsession at this point, the need to know, the need to understand and the need to answer the simple question of why. Why were they built? Why were they needed? And why were they left to be forgotten? To have all those decades wasted, Alvah would not allow that to happen to her like it had Elena, not without a fight.

  Storming into chamber two what she found was beyond a nightmare. Computers strewn apart the floor in various stages of pack, replaced by explosives that lined every wall of the chamber, her diagnostics gone.

  Alvah was livid, she was beside herself. Dr. Rigar rushed forwards to defuse another kind of bomb he sensed was about to explode. He started with apologies, and then excuses, something about them starting while he was gone but she wasn’t listening, all she could think about was one man and there he was.

  Gruff and old with a short greyed beard, his best years well behind him, Captain Jay Pickor stood by the far side of the chamber relaying orders to a subordinate who after a quick salute turned and ran past Alvah, barely missing a collision as she stormed towards the captain.

  “Captain!” she yelled and Pickor turned, his face furrowed into a frown reflecting the resignation that an undesired inevitability had finally come.

  “How dare you! Do you have any idea what you have done?”, she seethed, “You had no right! No authority! Weeks of research gone! Do you have any clue of the consequences of this!?”

  “We’ve been through this Dr. Breshill.” he said through gritted teeth. “We can not allow this location to fall to the enemy.”

  “This location? This location?! This facility is beyond your understanding. It could house the answer to life on our very planet and beyond for all you know and you just want to...to...to blow up it.” she waved her hands in a mock explosion. “To what? Spite the enemy? Or to spite me?”

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  Pickor’s eyes widened at the insinuation and took aim with his own rhetoric.

  “Do not act so pretentious with me doctor. This facility does not hold the answer to life on our planet, or beyond, does it?” he didn’t allow Alvah to respond before continuing. “Secondly, you are way out of line. I have no right? I have jurisdiction here, we are at war with the enemy at the gates.”

  “That’s not the point Captain...”

  “The point, Doctor,” he interrupted, “is that you’re coming off a power trip. You’ve been in charge for too long and are too used to getting your way. You’ve lost perspective so let me re-educate you.” Alvah was brimming at this insult but Pickor cut her off before she could interject.

  “Vela is not above killing good people and if they overrun the city and discover these ruins they’ll take this technology, like us, and use it to create new weapons to kill more good people. This will not happen under my watch.”

  “We aren’t using this technology to create weapons!” Alvah countered but Pickor just shook his head and looked her down like she were naive little child.

  “I am not using this technology to create weapons captain.” she corrected although what the military did with her discoveries she couldn’t care less, “There is much to learn, about who created this place and why, but only if it remains intact.”

  “You just want the glory and recognition Dr. Breshill, and lords know I’m tired of dealing with that ego of yours.” he said dismissively. “If leaving the facility intact means letting it fall into the hands of Vela-”

  “Better in the hands of Vela than wiped from existence!” a frustrated Alvah snapped.

  Pickor grabbed her by the collar and pulled her aside away from any listening ears and in hushed tones said. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that but be warned Doctor. Outbursts like that can easily be interpreted as treason. I acknowledge your frustration, but I also don’t give a shit. I have orders to prevent this place from falling into enemy hands and by damn am I going to follow through.”

  “Then hide it! It lay here hidden for centuries, there is no guarantee Vela will find it. Hide the entrance, collapse the tunnels, I don’t care, they can be dug up again when the city is retaken. Just don’t rob the world of what this place holds.”

  “Don’t try to bargain with me doctor. I am not one of your lackeys and it is not my call. I hope it doesn’t come to it, I truly do, but the moment command deems the defenses have failed I will be carrying out my orders and there is nothing you can do to stop me.” Pickor was growing weary, it was far from the first time they’d come to blows but it had never been this heated, but then again the stakes had never been this high.

  “You may see these facilities as replaceable and unimportant but every one of them serves a purpose, one that can not be gleamed from elsewhere. Except for here, the control center of who knows how many others. You destroy this place and you may be destroying our only chance to-”

  “Enough!” he was loud enough to give pause to those around them. “I am not wasting my time with this anymore and neither should you. Under battle, which is what we are in make no mistake, I am in command, not you. And my orders stand. We evacuate and leave nothing left for Vela to salvage. Do I make myself clear?”

  “I will not allow you to destroy these priceless artifacts!”

  “If you continue to hinder me I will have you arrested and dragged out of here with or without the research you hold so dear. We’ll see how far you go with your truth behind bars.” to resort to such threats, Alvah couldn’t believe her ears.

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Force my hand and see.” he looked deep in her eyes and Alvah saw how far he was willing to take this, at how little he regarded the scientific marvels around them. “Now, do I make myself clear?”

  Alvah glared at him with burning eyes. Fury, but also a deep deep fear froze her in place and numbed her tongue. It was a fear of losing everything just as it had happened to Elena, of having her life’s work result to nothing, of having wasted her life with nothing to show for it, but beyond all else to never get the answers she had so desperately sought.

  Having sensed his victory Pickor let Alvah go and calmly said. “Good. Now for your sake hurry up and finish the evacuation. You’re already well behind schedule.” he turned to leave.

  “Perhaps if you stopped commandeering my research team we wouldn’t be.” She said in a low voice having gathered just enough of herself back to retort. It was the last shade of defiance she could muster.

  “Just get it done.”

  Captain Pickor stormed off leaving Alvah to seethe behind him. She had not realized the room had stopped long ago as Dr’s Toole, Rigar and a hoard of military cronies stared at her in the aftermath of the spat.

  “What are you staring at?” she snared. “Get back to work.”

  She was furious, she was humiliated but most importantly she felt hollow. Storming off in a manor she would never admit was near identical to Pickor, Alvah glanced sorrowfully towards a pile of dismantled equipment that Dr. Rigar had fearfully rushed to organize that only ten minutes earlier was on track to revealing the key to everything. If Alvah was correct the data deciphered would not only have revealed the key function of site D but more importantly reveal the cause for their failure to reactivate the facilities terminals and technology. It should have been a leap forward in progress, it should have ushered in the next stage of exploration and understanding but now she may never know if those theories held true.

  As Alvah navigated the tunnels back to the main chamber her thoughts were a whirlwind of emotions. Sorrow, anger, despair, frustration. All these and more overwhelmed her as she replayed the lost battle over and over again in her mind. Every time she tried to alter the scenario, change her approach, appeal a different way it always lead to the same conclusion for there was no reasoning with such a close-minded man.

  Entering the main chamber, now more empty than before, the weight of her emotions overcame her and in a fit of fury she searched frantically for something to throw. But by the time she found something replaceable a cooler head had prevailed and she just dropped onto the nearest seat instead, defeated and exhausted.

  Why now? She thought, rubbing her temple. We were so close.

  She sensed someone approaching and looked up. Preparing to go another round with whoever was about to waste more of her time she relaxed when she saw it was only Jance.

  Sergeant Jance Jasalow. Even had she not been sitting he’d have towered over her. His bright blue eyes gleaming downwards, shining an intellect that was almost frightening given the field he had chosen to apply it in.

  “Another round?” He asked with a subtle but cold amusement in his voice. “Who won this one?”

  Word got around quick. She thought. Her response a swift roll of the eyes and a shake of the head.

  “He’s trying to destroy everything I’ve worked towards Jance. Just to stop Vela getting it. The short-sighted fool.” she muttered in disgust.

  “Well it will prevent Vela from getting their hands on it.”

  “And anyone else ever again.” she rubbed her temples again.

  Alvah could sense his eyes watching over her, assessing, calculating. He’d sense every ounce of frustration that emanated from her body as he’d been trained to do. And then he’d be looking for solutions.

  “Did you want me to take care of him, ma'am?”

  She looked back up and their eyes met. Jance had become serious in a way that Alvah had become accustomed to yet never ceased to unnerve her.

  “I make a habit of not prying into the fine details of your previous assignments sergeant. I know how sensitive those details can be. But I know enough to know of the possible connotations such an offer may entail. As much as I want the facility to remain intact you’ll have to forgive me if I decline, regardless of how I feel.”

  “It would not have been anything uncivil ma’am.” he spoke with feigned innocence. “There’s no guarantee the explosives will set off successfully. One loose wire, a faulty receiver. Otherwise you do know me to be quite persuasive...”

  “That’s enough sergeant.” Alvah said and Jance took the hint. Sabotage or any implication of it would not be on the cards today.

  Alvah sighed before asking. “Where’s Jade? I haven’t seen her the past few hours and I swear if she’s been commandeered like the rest…”

  “Rest assured she’s not been taken to battle ma’am. She’s topside preparing the ship for departure.”

  That made sense. Jade, Jance’s twin sister, was a skilled pilot but that was not her primary reason for being a part of Alvah’s team. If Pickor had her do prep work instead of the regular pilots that meant they had been reassigned as well. Just what was going on up there?

  Motioning Jance to lean in close she spoke in a soft tone.

  “How is it really going up there?”

  Jance gave a heavy sigh and looked around making sure no one was close. “Frankly ma’am, the cities lost. Reinforcements aren’t arriving quick enough and the only reason the city hasn’t already fallen is because of the nakara and skirit support forces already present bolstering the smaller human force. But you didn’t hear that from me.” he concluded.

  Thank the lords for his resourcefulness. It’s why she snatched them up when he and his sister became available.

  “Why this city of all places Jance? Of all the rotten luck…”

  “Is it luck ma’am?”

  Surprised by the question Alvah prodded. “What else could it be?”

  “Perhaps it was not just coincidence that they found themselves here.”

  Realization dawned on Alvah.

  “They couldn’t know, could they? I can fault the military on many things but their counterintelligence is not one of them.”

  “Perhaps.” Jance conceded. Knowledge of the ancient facilities was a state secret of the highest order. Security was second to none well beyond the point of irritation as procurement for even the most simplest of things could take months. “I just can’t think of why else they would target Maresh, but I could be wrong.”

  “But even i’ve heard the rumors that Aren’s on the tipping point of losing the war. Couldn’t this be their way of getting a foothold behind the frontline?”

  “We may be on the tipping point. Again, you didn’t hear that from me. But Vela still needs a solid push to break our military might and this is not it.” he spoke with an air of authority on the topic. Alvah did not know his sources or connections but had long since learnt to trust his intelligence and instincts.

  “I wouldn’t worry ma’am.” he continued. “We may not be able to hold the city now, but neither will they once we regroup and counter attack. Regardless of why they’re here, they won’t be staying long. We’ll be back in no time.”

  “But if the captain has his way there won’t be anything for me to come back to.”

  “With all due respect ma'am, you’ve indicated it's not your call.”

  “But it’s a scientific and historic endeavor Jance. It should be my call.” frustration caught in her throat.

  A pause followed and the sounds of her colleagues and military personal bustling in the background reminding her of what she ought be doing too, saving what she could of her research before it was all blown away by people who neither knew any better nor cared.

  “The offer still stands ma'am.” Jance finally said.

  She looked up at him and for a brief moment temptation gently clawed at her before replying, “We have work to do.” and got back up.

  As Jance left the chamber Alvah stared at a stack of papers containing theories and observations on the wireless transmission of power between terminals. She’d been tempted by Jance’s second offer, truly tempted. With each passing moment the weight and reality of what was about to be lost became ever more real and she was becoming increasingly desperate to find a way, any way, to preserve this facility. So what if Vela controlled the facility for a few days, a few weeks if it meant she could return later and continue where she left off? And it’s not like Jance would have done anything serious to get Captain Pickor to back off, would he? But even if he did, would it be worth it?

  She sighed and continued where she had left off before the power outage. Printed documents, scribbled notes and various instruments which were once neatly arranged across the tables and surfaces of the facility, now lay in marked boxes in an unorganized mess. It would take weeks to sort through it all again once they reached safety.

  A string of monitors, half missing, were also present showing various readouts, journal entries and statistics. They had yet to be powered down and represented the last electronics still interfaced with the facilities ancient technology.

  With great difficulty and regret Alvah begun the task of saving data, severing connections and powering off the remaining devices. One by one live feeds died and systems closed, possibly for good until only one remained.

  Hesitating, Alvah stared at the live video feed they’d managed to intercept from a yet to be discovered facility. The feed depicted a square chamber in a state of ruin, nothing out of the ordinary as most of the facilities Alvah had visited were in similar states of decay, but unlike those that had fallen victim to the elements and centuries of neglect, this one had clear signs of sabotage.

  The broken glass of control panels, stone walls marked as if struck by a hundred sharp objects and scarred metal of unidentified objects littered the outskirts of what was theorized to be some sort of cryogenic chamber. But as interesting as this apparent act of sabotage was it paled in comparison to what the chamber housed.

  In the chambers center were rows of pedestals linked together by similarly advanced technological equipment. Those were not the most important aspect of this room however, the most important aspect was that resting on each pedestal was a shattered dragon egg, each one of varying size and shape.

  Even shattered they had been a monumental discovery. In all of recorded history no human had ever set eyes on a genuine dragon egg. There were descriptions of them given from dragons throughout the ages but nothing concrete. It had required the confirmation from dragon members of Alvah’s research team that they were what they appeared to be. This was why Alvah had sought Dr. Bell’s expertise. It was her opportunity to start her research anew. She’d predictably been ecstatic, overwhelmed with emotion at the discovery, oddly more so than the dragons on her team, but months passed and they’d come no closer to determining the exact location of the chamber. To her credit Elena never lost her enthusiasm and hope that they would find the room depicted in the feed.

  But now it was just one more mystery of this place that may be lost forever.

  She hated it. The thought that Pickor was getting away with the equivalent of murder. Vela wouldn’t treat this place so rashly would they? They’d treat the wonders here with the respect they deserved surely? Perhaps if she stayed behind and surrendered, offer them her expertise and knowledge she could continue her work and...no, she perished the thought. Her frustration and desperation was impairing her judgment. Running to Vela was no solution to the quandary she found herself in. She like all Aren knew what they were capable of, they would treat the facility no better.

  There was no solution she could find, no course she could run, her best hopes would have to lie in the knowledge they’d obtained here in the last six months bolstering their efforts at the other facilities. There had been advances already, but how many more were there to be had? And for how much longer would their funding last now that their second wind had been scoured?

  With a heavy heart she begun the process of packing the remaining items yet to be processed. Just as she reached to power down the last remaining monitor movement caught her eye, not any movement from the chamber she resided in, but movement from the chamber depicted in the video feed. Inching closer to the screen Alvah watched as a shadow crept into view from beyond the feeds field of vision. First it was slow, unsure, almost nervous, but soon enough it begun to advance and the shadow grew in size and definition taking on a humanoid form until finally its origin passed the threshold of vision and Alvah got her first look at its source.

  “Now what are you?” she said in barely a whisper, her jaw agape.