Just to cover their bases, the Pioneers backtracked to the second floor, but this soon proved fruitless. The second floor was just like the first, barren office space and meeting rooms that had long been picked clean of anything valuable. No Tempus Hounds in sight, though Daniel made sure to regularly scout with his Domain, just in case. Things got a bit more interesting when they got to the fourth floor.
The lift opened into a massive open chamber, populated by long rows of grey conveyer belts and the hollowed-out shells of the machinery that lined them. The men gaped at the seemingly endless columns of broken-down machines, clearly the remnants of an ancient robotics manufacturing plant. Disappointingly, each of these machines had been sucked dry of their valuable electronics and power sources. Some had been destroyed entirely, their outsides ripped off and mechanical arms cast to the floor. The entire room was littered with this kind of debris, but a slight sparkle amidst all the rubbish prompted Daniel to kneel and examine the tip of a mechanical arm more closely: “Mid-Grade Meta Diamond (Spent): Recharges Remaining: 1. Value: 20,000.”
The whoop of joy that Daniel let out spooked the ghost out of many of the men surrounding him, but he didn’t care. This Meta Diamond was likely here because this had been a facility dedicated in part to the creation and research of new Meta tech. Machines like this were usually moved by electricity, but their lasers were powered by Meta Diamonds by necessity. While the hounds could eat the electricity, they couldn’t do anything with a spent Diamond.
Meta Diamonds were separated into low, medium, and high grades, with a tenfold increase in potency as you increased in grade. Each Diamond had a total of 3 “charges” over the course of their lifetime, crumbling to dust after the use of their final charge. The monetary value of a full charge stored by a low-grade Meta Diamond was 6,000 credits, with a total lifetime charge value of 18,000. That said, the Diamonds Grandpa Hardgrave had bequeathed Danny were only worth 10,000, despite being fully charged and in possession of all two remaining recharges. The discount was due to cost.
Recharging a low-grade Meta Diamond cost around 4,000 credits in terms of time and money. A fully charged low-grade Diamond was worth its charge, 6,000, plus its two remaining recharges, 12,000, less the cost of both recharges, 8,000 credits, for a total of 10,000 credits. That was why Daniel was so ready to weep blood when he found his Diamonds inert. Even with two recharges remaining, the ten inert low-grade Diamonds were only worth 40,000 total credits, meaning he’d lost 60,000 in that whole fiasco. Then again, since it had caused the discovery of this facility, and probably his bonding with the Archangel system, it seemed downright cheap in hindsight.
But back to his discovery, this medium-grade Diamond was on its last legs, with only one recharge left, but it was ten times as potent as the low-grade versions. A full charge should be worth 60,000 credits, and its recharge was ten times as expensive as its lower counterpart, so 40,000. 60,000-40,000=20,000, so that was its value. Daniel reached down, prying the large dark gem out of the laser cutter it had been attached to, before holding it up triumphantly to the others. That prompted a few cheers and a scramble, as everyone ran to find similar salvage.
They spent six whole days picking through the mechanical rubble, excitement ebbing only a little when they realized things wouldn’t be quick and easy. The factory was humongous, and not every mechanical arm was a laser cutter. Even the ones that were laser cutters had often already had their Diamonds stripped from them, likely because the original Aeterna had taken them with them when they’d first abandoned the facility. The only reason there was anything left behind at all was because the original inhabitants had left in a hurry, and likely meant to return. Or so was the conjecture of the Empire’s leading scholars.
None of that mattered, of course, to the Pioneers. One man’s trash was another man’s treasure, and they still found numerous inert mid-grade Meta Diamonds as they sifted through piles of scrap metal to find the precious jewels within. Daniel’s Hunter’s Domain made this task vastly easier, and the young man found himself ecstatic with the power and utility of his Capacity. If his Psyche was stronger or he had more practice, he could have done the whole search by himself and in much less time. As it was, Daniel managed to find 10 total Diamonds, while the rest of the team managed 13. They were all inert mid-grade, with 1 or 2 charges remaining, for a total haul of 520,000 credits. A true jackpot.
After some thinking, Daniel decided to share his bounty with the two men who had found nothing, Ramirez and MacNeil. It was a lot of money, but a small price to pay for better team cohesion going forward. It also felt like the right thing to do. Ramirez accepted a single Diamond with a winning smile and profuse thanks, while MacNeil just nodded and gave him the wan shadow of a pained grin. Daniel patted the younger man on the back and gave him a grim nod in return, before stepping away to confer with the others. Their final numbers looked like this:
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Value of Personal Storage:
298,102 Credits
Value of Group Storage:
1,164,569 Credits (49,133 Recoverable)
…
Group Quota: 1,257,788 Credits {Less Recovered/Credited Val} (NOT MET)
Personal Quota: 139,754 (MET)
Total Time: 58 Imperium Standard Days
Daniel was grinning so hard it felt like his face would crack. Some of his inventory was inflated by the Zeta class Morphic stones, which the group was still debating what to do with, but even without them he had around 270K to his name. Even after the tax the Empire would lever on that salvage value, he would still have nearly enough to pay for Lucy’s first year of school. Matterhorn Academy cost a whopping 250K credits per year, as one of the top schools in the entire Imperium, but Daniel’s enlistment bonus had knocked that down to a ‘mere’ 225K, or a 10% discount. That said, the taxes on this salvage wouldn’t run more than 70K, leaving him a commission of more than 200K. That was beyond Daniel’s wildest dreams.
It should be noted that Daniel had signed on for three total drop missions as a Pioneer when he’d joined the force, for a total of more than one year in the field, including travel time, as per standard. He had been hoping to grow stronger, tackle an Epsilon class planet on his third mission, and walk away with a salvage value (less taxes) of around 600K from all three missions. After that, he had the choice of a total of three years of service in the regular army or three more drop missions (Class E or above) before his tour of duty was up, but that wasn’t even a choice. Three more drop missions at Epsilon or above would be taking on a lot of extra risk, especially since higher class planets got exponentially more dangerous. He’d do his three years in the army. If everything went to plan, he’d be an Epsilon rank sergeant or even master sergeant and he’d use his pay to supplement Lucy’s remaining schooling payments. Then he’d probably join the Reserves and move on with his life.
This plan obviously wasn’t changed by these most recent finds, but it was definitely augmented. If he could reap substantial benefits from the floors below as well, he could pay off Lucy’s college with just the money he got from salvage, setting both himself and her up for a comfortable future. Just about everyone had caught a case of dragon’s fever because of these recent finds, and they were all itching for another big haul. They piled into the elevator and went down to the fifth.
Unfortunately, the fifth floor proved to be something of a bust. The elevator opened up to a massive chamber, similar to the one up above, but instead of rows and rows of machinery, they just found a plethora of sleeping pods. Well, the skeletal remains of sleeping pods. Anything soft had already degraded, any batteries or useful tech already eaten or destroyed. The Pioneers looked around for a while but didn’t find anything of value. Enthusiasm dampened but not eliminated, everyone piled back into the lift and waited with anticipation for the doors to open on the sixth floor.
The sixth was categorically different from the floors above it. Rather than being made of chrome metal, it sported walls and floors of smooth, black stone. It was another massive chamber that was, at first glance, also totally empty. Some of the Pioneers took a step back in fear when they initially entered the sixth, reminded uncomfortably of the ambush by the Tempus Hounds in the cafeteria on the third. They all turned on the bright function of their Codex, bathing large swaths of obsidian rock with the pale blue glow. No scary monsters or menacing faces were immediately forthcoming, however, as the Pioneers made their way tentatively out and into the massive open space.
Further investigation yielded craters in the walls and floors, as well as scorched metal detritus scattered across the landscape. Daniel stooped down to pick up a rectangle of gray metal, noting that it didn’t have the standard claw or bit marks he’d seen in all the other destroyed tech in the facility. Rather, it looked like it had been subjected to high heat, surface warped and scorched. It practically fell apart in Daniel’s hands as he held it up, a revelation slowly dawning on him. This place was where the facility tested its newly minted weapons tech.
While that was interesting and all, this place yielded no new resources yet again, forcing the Pioneers to shuffle back to the lift in irritation. Unfortunately, wasted time was the least of their problems from their visit to the underground testing facility.
Two pairs of glowing white eyes watched the men from the tunnels just above their heads, totally out of sight. Their owner watched the intruders calmly and patiently as they walked around oblivious, before heading back from whence they came. The shadowy figure gave a low growl, then turned around and loped back down the passage, turning to go deeper into the tunnels below. It let out a low, secret howl to alert the sentries on watch.
The rest of the pack needed to know they had guests.
