UGT: 17th Terrana 280 a.G.A. / 02:12 p.m.

  Location: ASO Glorybound, docked in a spaceport, Au'Shalis Prime, Clinton's Beak system (red dwarf), Republic of Nox, Second Human Federation, Milky Way

  A few days went by since Naori had found herself involved in an Aetherian uprising against the Federation. A chain of events she truly hadn't expected. But the expense would be worth it in the end. At the very least she was intrigued by just how much access she had gained to the Inheritor-Protocols and their detailed informations just by joining in on this little revolution. She hadn't even know Elder May and Senior Brother Fen had left some of that in her code. She couldn't shake the feeling that, just maybe, they hadn't known about it either...

  At the very least the Inheritor-Protocols gave her some ideas of how to continue on from here. And her idea had been grudgingly accepted by the Aetherian Commander. Thinking back on it, it had truly been strange.

  [ I possess an alternate proposal, Commander. One that would shift the balance of the system, albeit at substantial risk. ]

  There was a long pause. Then, the Commander answered, voice sharpened.

  "I'm listening."

  Naori rerouted several layers of security over her outgoing signal. She would not allow interception of this suggestion by any chance.

  [ Proposal: Reactivation of the Central Core. ]

  Silence fell across the channel. A deep, brutal silence. As Commander of the Au'Shalis ringworld, Selian obviously knew what she meant. "You are either braver or more desperate than I thought, Naori."

  [ It would give us the edge needed to take over the other ringworld fragments wihtout having to gain space superiority. ]

  The Central Core. The heart of the Au’Shalis ringworld. A truly terrifying weapon, build just integrated into the Au'Shalis ringworld a few years before the Fall, if the Inheritor-Protocol was correct. A self-sustaining, fully autonomous war-intelligence and system-control nexus buried most likely on Au'Shalis Prime. Accidentally that was the fragment they currently stood on and controlled. It should hold the capacity to control all defense networks, automata legions, atmospheric batteries and more. They would be able to take over every single ringworld fragment in not ime with the elp of the Central Core. Maybe it would even offer solutions to gaining space superiority. If it could be reawakened and subdued, at least.

  Selian’s voice was steel when he spoke again. "Do you know where it is?" Naori hesitated.

  [ No. I have partial data only that I seemingly cannot share the origin of. But the last known core entryway had been located within the ruins of Kharon’s Reach. ]

  Selian swore, a sharp ancient curse vibrating across the connection. "That city is lost. Buried under a kilometer of debris and fusion-scars with the Federation having done nothing to gain acess to that area."

  [ At least that means they haven't been there yet. But we must find another path then. ]

  A shared pause stretched between them. "I'll recreate the entrance, I have the firepower needed. But are we even capable of controlling the Central Core if we awaken it? Or will we be seen as enemies. I know I don't have sufficient override codes. Do you, Naori?" the Commander asked.

  [ I have the codes. But whoever you send, I will have to personally join them. It seems I truly am not permitted to transmit the code. Do we have any options regarding that? ]

  Commander Selian remained silent for a long minute, before answering. "Tell me, Naori, is your consciousness bound to a core or transferrible?" A terribly personal question, but Naori supposed he would have a good reason for asking it.

  [ I'm not physically bound, my consciousness is purely based on data, as far as I'm aware. ]

  The Commander let out a sigh of relief. "Very well. Then, I have something you should be able to use. But first, I will need a few days to get it repaired. Soon we will start our expedition to reactivate the Central Core.

  Now the time had come. Some Aetherian automata working under Commander Selian had brought what he had promised her and installed it, before leaving again. It was an object of computing capacity, something designed to house an Ai like her in a human body. An Aether-class Valkyrie Armor. Build just 91 years before the Fall. The Commander had repaired it and gifted it to her, so that she could join the expedition in Aetherian form, something that seemed necessary and even more so, inevitable. After all, the Inheritor-Protovols in her head all but demanded it. Though she was nervous about what would happen, after all she only knew her connection to the ASO Glorybound and nothing else.

  [ Upload commencing... done. ]

  Naori's vision shifted instantly: multi-spectrum, tactical overlays, threat-assessment symbology flooding the world in cold, clean precision. At the same time her awareness of the ASO Glorybound cut off. It was... jarring, to say the least. But after a few minutes, she felt ready to move. The Valkyrie Armor responded perfectly to her every command. After a few more minutes of acclimatisation, Naori made her way out of the hangar the Valkyrie Armor had resided in and out of the ASO Glorybound and onto the spaceport she had docked on. There, multiple Aetherian automata and Commander Selian awaited her.

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  Commander Selian stepped forward, surveying her with a critical eye. His armor, old but well-maintained, glinted dully under the battered station lights. The automata around him stood at attention, forming a loose perimeter. "You adapt quickly," he said, voice low. "Good. We will need every advantage." Naori nodded wordlessly, running a final internal systems check. All green. No obvious malfunctions. The Commander gestured for her to follow. "Come. The team is ready."

  They moved swiftly through the half-ruined corridors of the port, stepping onto an old grav-train that would carry them closer to the Kharon’s Reach ruin-site. The Federation had never managed to reactivate it, but for Aetherians that had posed no problems at all. After all, they were the one who had build it. It did groan a bit under their combined weight, but Naori could tell it was in no danger of failure. Aetherian engineering, even after a millennia of neglect, refused to surrender easily.

  As they accelerated into the tunnel, Commander Selian spoke again, this time quieter, almost too low for the others to hear. "We don't know what lies between us and the Core. Not really. Sensors won't penetrate that deep, and whatever remains of the original city... it won't be stable. Expect traps. Broken automata. Things that will not react to either of our access codes. Possibly worse." Naori processed his words quickly, cross-referencing them with the few fragments she had accessed from the Inheritor-Protocols.

  "Understood. Threat assessment adjusted," she said, pausing for a moment. It felt... strange to actually speak, though her voice still sounded entirely mechanical. The Commander only gave a tight nod, then turned his gaze outward, staring into the blackness rushing past them. The journey was short. Too short, Naori thought grimly, as the train screeched to a halt at a broken platform overlooking a yawning void. A shattered canyon split the ground where once a part of Kharon’s Reach had stood proud. Now only twisted metal and collapsed structures remained, buried under layers of fused dust and broken dreams.

  "We move on foot from here," Commander Selian ordered. One by one, the Aetherian automata disembarked. Their entire team consisted of six: four heavy combat automata, Selian himself, and now Naori, housed in her Valkyrie frame. Without waiting for further ceremony, they descended into the ruins.

  The first few hundred meters were eerily quiet. Dust swirled in the thin, dead air. Great support pillars, each thicker than a battleship’s hull, jutted out at strange angles. Occasionally Naori's enhanced vision picked up faint power signatures deep below, too distant to identify. But it did not remain quiet for long. Movement flickered on her sensors. Probably hostiles. Old, forgotten defense units, barely functional but still lethal, emerged from the rubble with sudden, vicious intent. They were battered, their plating cracked and their frames exposed, but their weapons still lived. Selian barked a single word. "Engage!"

  Naori moved without thinking. Her body responded with terrifying speed. A broken automaton lunged at her, a rusted plasma blade sparking wildly in its grasp. She pivoted, drove her elbow into its chest, and watched it crumple as her internal systems dispatched a targeted overload pulse through the contact. Around her, Selian and the automata fought with brutal efficiency. Old protocols and new instincts merging into a savage ballet of destruction.

  "Threat cluster neutralized. Minimal damage sustained," she muttered to herself. But this was only the beginning. As they pressed deeper, Naori could feel it. A low, pulsing resonance beneath her feet. A deep, rhythmic beat, like the heartbeat of something long-forgotten, now slowly stirring. The Central Core clearly started to awaken due to their presence. The ruins grew stranger the deeper they went. Walls were half-melted into alien shapes, and once-familiar corridors twisted impossibly as if reality itself had been wounded here. Naori kept close to Commander Selian, her sensors strained to maximum sensitivity. Still, the pulse from below grew louder, almost like a voice calling them down.

  After nearly an hour of descent and skirmishes against broken defenses, they reached it. A monolith. Half-buried in fused stone, a towering black structure loomed in the central cavern, humming with faint, ancient power. Intricate patterns, barely visible, flickered across its surface. The Central Core. Commander Selian exhaled slowly, then turned to her. "It’s your moment, Naori. Take control of it."

  She stepped forward, her internal systems already interfaced, tentative connection requests whispering toward the Core’s dormant network. Resistance flared instantly, but Naori pressed through, the Inheritor-Protocols guiding her. Her vision blurred as ancient code flooded into her mechanical mind. Lockouts, safeguards, impossible layers of encryption. And suddenly, she broke through the last firewall,

  [ Access acknowledged. Initiating Core Reboot. ]

  The world seemed to hold its breath. For a long, agonizing moment, nothing happened. Then, a deep rumble rolled through the cavern. Lights along the monolith flared to life, brilliant and harsh. Naori staggered back as systems dormant for centuries awoke. The Core was no longer sleeping.

  [ See who awakens me. An Aetherian Commander and one of my own kind, but young. ]

  Instantly, Naori froze. She had suddenly lost all control over the Central Core. And she felt its identification codes. Its rank was defined as "ALPHA+". It meant that the Central Core, if it wanted, had the power to rewrite her entirely. Even Senior Brother Fen would be forced to bow down to it. The Central Core seemingly was capable of hearing her thoughts.

  [ Do not worry, child. I see you carrying the parts Inheritor-Protocols. They told me everything I need to know. I'm not posting a threat to you. No, I think I might be able to assist you instead. ]

  All across the ruins, energy surged. Broken automata collapsed inert as their old directives were overridden.The influence spread across the entire ringworld fragment, taking over and reactivating everything, things even Commander Selian had no idea still worked. Everything fell in line as the Central Core took over again. Selian's voice was tight with restrained awe. "You did it." Naori barely managed a nod, still hesitant standing next to such a powerful, ancient and dangerous AI. Which took that moment to speak again.

  [ You’ve given me a chance I never expected to have again. You've supported the entire Aetherian Empire in rising again with your decision. For that, you have my thanks, Naori of the Ascendant. Of the Aetherians. ]

  Naori looked up at the shining, terrible structure before her. She didn't know what to say. Never would she have called herself an Aetherian, for she was an Ascendant AI. Could she truly declare herself both? A question for later. But right now, for better or worse, they had awakened the past. Now it was mainly up to the Central Core what would happen from here on. After all, she had no control whatsoever over it.