Erica found herself jostling about in the troop transport bay of a truck hurtling down a dirt road toward the northern coast of Flamehaven. Damon sat across from her, with a pair of mechans in the cabin driving the truck. She had a satchel over her shoulder, with some food, a journal and a pen inside. She was wearing her preferred blue shirt, with black combat pants and boots, along with her new coat. Her sword sat at her hip, the sun occasionally glinting off of the pommel. Damon looked like he always did with his closed coat and messy hair.

Mountains had given way to green forests and rolling hills a little while ago. Erica thought she could smell something on the air, but couldn't place what it was.

"Have you ever been to the ocean?" Damon asked. His arms were crossed across his chest as he leaned against one of the poles that held up the tarp that kept the bulk of the sun at bay.

"Is that what I smell? No," Erica admitted. She was leaning forward, trying to keep the worst of the wind out of her face, and failing for the most part. "I've never really ventured too far from Copperwood before. Zellas may have been my farthest trip. Nothing like going to headquarters, or this ride."

"Just you wait. We'll be taking the Invictus to Bladefell, crossing the ocean to take the most direct route to our blackout site."

"The Invictus? Is that a ship?"

"Close," Damon shifted in his seat. "do you know what a rumbler skiff is?"

"I've heard of them." Erica had to pull her hair out of her face for the umpteenth time as the wind changed direction again. "All terrain vehicles that use a lot of maiga and make a lot of noise is about all I know of them."

"The Invictus is possibly the largest, and certainly the most armoured rumbler skiff on Tarsis. A mobile fortress, it has helped us several times in stopping larger scale Diezen attacks."

"Don't you have a mechan general with the title 'The Bastion'? How many mobile fortresses do you have?"

"Just the two, I'm afraid. Kashii, 'The Bastion', is more of a front line anchor than an actual fortress in and of himself. You'll meet him sometime, same as the other generals."

Erica nodded. She had wondered when such a meeting would take place. The generals of the Altean Army, a collection of powerful individuals, of which only Joshua was living. Kashii, Jason, and Sasha were mechans by all accounts. 'The Bastion', 'The Marksman', and 'The Tactician', in that order. Joshua didn't exactly have such a title, but he had a reputation for speed and ice shaping.

"Looks like we're here." Damon's voice brought Erica's attention to the present. They were on a beach, with a tall waterfront facility sitting ahead of them. The large stone block of a building was largely devoid of irregularities across its surface, save for the doors that led inside. The Alteans disembarked from the truck and made their way to said doors. Once inside, the smell of the ocean clashed with the scent of heated metal. The interior was cavernous, with the ceiling being at least three times higher than her room's back in Copperwood. Mechans were busily moving to and fro, ferrying crates of ammunition and parts for the vehicle that dominated the space. The craft was aimed out to sea, with a large metal gate sealing it inside. It resembled a galleon, if only at the hull as it lacked masts. Metal plating coated the entirety of the hull, with three descending tiers of decks evident from Erica's view at ground level. A battering ram protruded beneath the prow of the craft, extending from the keel. It sat on the smoothed stone floor of the facility with eight stout but powerful legs which poked out from nine shallow dishes on thick swivels, each about four feet across and tilted downward, mounted in two rows across the lower side of the hull. Erica had to assume the dishes were replicated on the other side.

"Those would be the rumble drives," Damon explained as they entered, pointing out the dishes, "They take maiga and turn it into a constant series of concussive blasts that keep the skiff afloat, if only just barely. Together, they make for a nimble, if demanding, craft."

"So that's the Invictus then? It's big," Erica trailed off, looking more closely at the lowest and foremost deck. It had a huge cannon mounted there, bigger than any she had ever heard of. Trailing her eyes toward the stern, she saw a small tower mounting four long, thin-barreled weapons around a seat. Further back still three more cannons sat on the middle deck, though these were not nearly as large as the first. "What do you need all that firepower for? I don't even think the walls of Durhelm are this upgunned!"

"The Invictus was made to be a siege breaker first, and was somewhat repurposed for more defensive tasks after its construction."

"I thought the Altean Army was all about being on the defense? What do you need a siege breaker for?"

A dark look overtook Damon's face. "To retake Bellhold."

Erica paused. Bellhold was the one continent that did not connect with the others at Dy'As Ridge, and thus was the Diezen's first target when they emerged from the shadows three years ago. They've taken it over and fortified its coasts since, making any attempt to land and combat them directly costly. Suddenly a mobile fortress like the Invictus made a lot of sense, especially since rumbler skiffs could cross water as well as land.

"Come on," Damon called out, a little closer to the craft than Erica remembered, "We need to get going as quickly as we can."

She followed him to the base of the craft. It towered over her, easily twice her height and then some. A rope ladder dangled from the deck, beckoning the two of them up. Damon clambered up it without a second thought, leaving Erica to regard it with some trepidation. She reached out and grabbed it with her mechanical right hand, trying to get a feel for it through the maiga flowing around her hand. Confident she had a good grip with the still unfamiliar limb, she then grabbed the other side with her other hand, then started to climb slowly, taking care to have a sturdy grip with her right before continuing upward.

Reaching the middle deck, she saw that Damon was offering a hand to her. She clasped it with her right, being pulled up to her feet. Damon shook his hand vigorously after Erica released it, "You need to be careful with how much force you put into that, if I weren't me that would have broken my hand."

"Oh! Oh, I am so sorry!" Erica apologized, mortified with herself. She hadn't thought about how much pressure she was applying with her new hand, and since she wasn't actively looking for tactile feedback at that moment, she had no idea she was overdoing it.

"It's fine, luckily it was my hand that you accidentally crushed instead of anyone else's. Moving along though, follow me to the upper deck."

They ascended the short set of stairs linking the two decks together, ending up at the helm of the Invictus. It resembled a ship's steering, with a large nautical wheel facing the craft's rear. There was a lever on the right, and four pedals at the wheel's base. A round metal bulb sat atop a pole on the left, with a hinge on the back denoting that it opened up. A large switch was bolted to the side of the wheel's mount, with the switch in an upward position labeled "Landing Gear Down".

"You still need to explain what you mean by things like if you weren't you," Erica said, watching for a response from Damon.

He didn't give one, instead gesturing to the helm and the implements around it. "This is where the Invictus is controlled from. You and I will be taking shifts piloting it as we cross the ocean to pointward Bladefell."

"I'm going to be driving this thing?!"

"I don't see why not. It's going to be a near day-long trip, and I can't be expected to power the Invictus that whole time by myself."

"Power it...?" Erica said, aghast at every new detail.

"Yes. You see this?" Damon flipped the cap of the bulb open, revealing a smooth stone half-ball. "This feeds into the charge bank of the craft. In order to get more than three hours of function, we will need to charge the Invictus as it goes, through here."

"That shouldn't be too hard, I guess. Charging is supposed to be the most basic form of maiga manipulation, right?"

"The demands of the Invictus are great. All of the charges you practiced with wouldn't fill half of the charge bank here. Keeping eighteen rumble drives operational plus the below-decks lighting, the motorized turret, and the main gun moving eats as much power as you can give it. Splitting the burden is the only reason we can make this voyage in the first place."

"Not simple, got it." Erica deflated a little, the wonder of the Invictus quickly wearing away to dread over keeping it out of the water as they went.

"Simple and easy aren't always the same thing." Damon looked over the decks of the craft. "It seems like we're about ready to go. I'll teach you how the controls work, then let you pilot the Invictus for the first shift. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Erica watched as twelve mechans boarded the Invictus via the side ladders before a powered spool retracted the ladders. The mechans each carried a rifle with a tall, thin rectangular barrel extending downward, and a blocky charge instead of a traditional magazine. Two mechans opened a hatch and descended into the lower deck while the remaining ten went in pairs to the various guns on the top deck. The main cannon and quad-gun tower each got one, while the two banks of three cannons got one pair for each opposing set.

"All clear!" Damon shouted, and the mechans on the ground pulled away to the walls of the facility as he placed his left hand on the charging port and pressed a button behind the wheel. All of a sudden, air blasted everywhere as the rumble drives growled to life. Impossibly deep rumbling reverberated through Erica's body as the Invictus slowly rose. Damon flipped the switch for the landing gear and checked that the gates ahead of him were opening. Satisfied they were, he placed a foot on the middle right pedal gently and the craft started floating forward on the blasts of air it was constantly emitting. With the gates fully opened, Damon floored the pedal. The Invictus shot forth, causing Erica to stagger back. In a second, they had open skies above them again as the sea air assaulted their skin with the speed of the craft.

The view nearly overwhelmed Erica. There was water stretching out in nearly all directions, more than she had ever dared imagine. It was a breathtaking blue rushing past them as the Invictus cut a path forward, splashing water aside as it passed and leaving a considerable wake. She could still feel the constant rumble of its drives, but she couldn't hear them over the wind rushing past. She could also feel the rich maiga in the air here, and how it was being channeled into the Invictus' charging port by Damon in prodigious quantities. He had one hand on the port and the other on one of the wheel's protruding handles.

"You want me to move that much maiga while learning to drive this thing?" Erica shouted, unsure she would be heard with the wind.

"It's easier than it seems," Damon replied, not shouting but still projecting his voice. "Once you figure out how to tilt it and the directional output of the drives, the Invictus will become a responsive ride. So, the pedals. Going from left to right, they are pushing the craft port, backward, forward, and starboard. The wheel dictates steering, with this metal-capped handle representing the wheel being set in 'straight' when it is vertical. The lever here dictates tilt. Be careful if you push it forward, you will tilt the prow down and the Invictus will try to drive into the ground or water, whichever you happen to be over. Combine the lever with the pedals and steering, and you can make some sharp turns."

He looked to Erica expectantly. She looked over the various implements before turning back to him. "What."

Damon's shoulders sank a little. "Spinning the wheel left makes the Invictus turn to port, spinning it right-"

"I get that, I get the pedals. But why the lever? Why add something that can crash the Invictus so easily?"

"Watch." Damon switched his grip so his left hand was on the wheel and his right on the lever. He spun the wheel hard to the right while shifting his feet so they were on the forward and right pedals. The Invictus lurched and careened starboard, the rumble drives rumbling deeper and faster now as they struggled to keep the Invictus above the water. Erica had to steady herself again, and saw the mechans on deck doing the same. As suddenly as they had started the turn, Damon righted the craft. After the deck was solidly under her feet again, Erica noticed that they were now sailing along the coast toward Dy'As Ridge and Crehss' Cross.

"... Compared to..." Damon said as he simply spun the wheel left after adjusting his hands so he was charging once more. The rumble drives still complained slightly, but the craft remained vertical as it slowly started turning out to sea again. It took a fair bit of time before he spun the wheel back to its neutral position. "Skilled use of the lever can make the Invictus go from lumbering and ungainly to nimble and responsive. It takes some practice, and certainly strains the charges if they aren't being replenished."

Erica regarded him. "So you want me to zig-zag this skiff to pointward Bladefell? Won't that take longer than going in a straight line?"

"It would, which is why I only wanted to show you these techniques for now. Basic piloting will be enough for this trip, we still need to get where we're going with all due haste."

"Right. So... charge with the left, steer with the right, feet on the pedals, only switch to the lever if needed?" Erica recounted, gesturing to each input in turn.

"Correct. Are you ready to take over?" Damon asked, looking at her.

Erica nodded, and Damon stepped back from the controls. She could feel the Invictus starting to slow as she hurriedly stepped up to the wheel. She placed her left palm on the round charging port and started to funnel the maiga around her into it while she grasped the rightmost handle of the wheel and kept it steady. Finally, she stepped on the forward pedal, gently at first. Feeling the Invictus still slowing slightly, she floored it. Instantly, she felt the craft lurch forward, and could feel the charging port nearly sucking in maiga rather than her pushing it down. It was certainly demanding, more than blasting lightning at Damon continually had been. Needing to shape in two places was distracting at first, as her right arm didn't respond smoothly for a few different moments when she was trying to keep the maiga flow consistent into the Invictus. It was empowering to be at the helm of such a large and powerful vehicle. The low but loud growl of the rumble drives gave her the sense of being something dangerous, their sounds adjusting to the minute adjustments she made to the wheel.

Damon stepped up next to her, pulling a compass from his coat pocket. He directed her to adjust her course, then left her to the helm in order to inspect the guns before going below decks. As Erica piloted the Invictus, she felt energized as the flow of maiga within her became easier, came more naturally. She hardly had to focus on it by the time Damon came to relieve her three hours later. Rather than be tired with the energy expended, she found herself nearly hopping in place trying to find an outlet for the energy. Damon suggested she have a look below decks to get more familiar with the craft. Finding the hatch the mechans used to go down there earlier, Erica descended the ladder there into the lower deck.

The area was confined, with a wide copper-plated wall dividing the compartment along the length of the craft. There were openings in the wall with no doors that let her check the identical other side. The wall looked to be a little over three feet wide. The entire interior was lit using a series of glass bulbs strung up along the ceiling. Erica recognized the life vine cabling connecting them all together, and noted that they plugged into the wall. She realized that made the wall dividing the lower deck a massive charge bank. The copper likely housed tons of stone to keep maiga within to be used by the booming rumble drives further down in another deck below this one. Damon had warned her not to go down further if she valued her hearing. Looking to the outer wall, she noticed runes carved into the metal armour of the hull, scrawling text in an old language she couldn't read. She had no idea what these runes were for, but knew that one could inscribe shaper-like abilities into them. There were sheets of copper sitting against the walls as well, materials for repairing the charge bank most likely. The buckets containing hammers, nails, and welding torches sitting near the copper sheets reinforced this notion.

Deciding her head was rattled enough from the rumble drives, Erica resurfaced onto the main deck. She sat against the wall to the upper deck and pulled her journal and pen from her satchel. She began to sketch the ocean into the first page, drawing how the sun reflected off the waves. She struggled to keep it consistent as any detail she wished to draw would be behind them in a moment. Before she knew it, Damon called out to her to change shifts again. She continued this cycle of piloting the Invictus and drawing and writing in her journal when she was off shift as the sun completed its arc across the sky. The moon and stars took its place as the sky turned black. With the lack of light above deck, she decided to practice using her new arm and saber, refamiliarizing herself with the swordsmanship she learned in Copperwood between piloting shifts until the sun had started to return to the sky. She could hardly believe she had been piloting the Invictus through the night, but she still felt plenty awake from all the shaping. She grew tired every time her shift came around, but was jolted into wakefulness by the demands of the craft.

Damon stood next to her as the morning light revealed land ahead of them. A golden beach came into view between sheer stone cliffs. A road led up to the escarpment from the beach through green forest. He was checking his compass again, then addressed Erica, "Just before you hit the beach, pull back slightly on the lever. That will make our transition onto land smoother. Then, follow the road."

Erica nodded, a knot forming in her stomach as the walls of stone hurtled toward her. She adjusted her grip so that she was no longer charging and did as Damon ordered. The Invictus turned its prow upward, and as they went over land Erica could feel the craft increase its elevation as it was pounding air against the raising sand. Billowing clouds of the stuff were kicked up in their wake as they climbed the path up the escarpment.

"Slow down, then turn to port at the intersection," Damon instructed.

Erica said nothing, instead taking her foot off the forward pedal. She had to put her foot on the reverse as the intersection rolled into view when they crested the escarpment, then turned the craft to port to follow the road now taking them south, toward the most pointward end of the continent. Urging the Invictus forward again, they were on their way to the north-most base that had gone silent a couple of days ago now.

They flew down the road for a little while, trees whipping past at speeds that made Erica more than a little uncomfortable. Damon had said that if they did hit a tree it wouldn't be a big deal, but she didn't want to have that on her if at all possible. Thankfully, he took over shortly after the road started to wind, expertly guiding the Invictus through the path. Eventually, he took a side road going west until he found a clearing off the road that only required them to plow through four trees, each felled easily with the battering ram and the heft and momentum of the craft. The Invictus reverberated with each impact, forcing Erica to grip the raised side of the upper deck to steady herself. Damon brought the rumbler skiff to a hovering halt before engaging the landing gear and setting it down, allowing the bass rumble of the drives to die out. It was only now that Erica realized how much she had missed hearing anything else as birds chirped and the leaves rustled in the wind.

"Erica, on me," Damon ordered as the rope ladders redeployed. The two of them climbed down and left the Invictus and the mechans guarding it behind, heading south through the forest. "If there are Diezens at the base, I'd like to try to have the element of surprise on our side for once."

"Because the Invictus is perfect for stealth operations," Erica mumbled loudly, popping her ears with her jaw to refocus her hearing. Then, when she could hear herself, with some trepidation, "You're sure we'll be dealing with Diezens here?"

"I've already attempted to hail the base with no luck. I can't think of any other reason they'd be non-responsive."

"Great. Nothing like impending combat to soothe the nerves..."

"I thought this wasn't your first combat scenario?"

"It's not, but fending off some disorganized guhr or even human bandits isn't the same as actively going after Diezens!"

"This is what you signed up for. You have a few minutes to make any preparations you need while we approach the base."

Erica blew out a breath, trying to steel herself for what was to come. She had more control over her shaping, but the events of her last night in Copperwood wouldn't stay out of her head. She didn't want to lose control again. She drew her saber and looked over its damascus patterning, making sure she could still see and avoid the trees ahead of her. The metal in the blade had been folded time and time again in its manufacture, the altanite in its alloy making it an azure colour. She gave it a couple of swings, left, then right. The heft was different from her service sword, but with the mechanical arm, not something she couldn't manage.

After walking for the prescribed few minutes, they neared the edge of the forest. Ahead of them, a compound surrounded by ten-foot tall shaped stone walls loomed a distance from the trees. They couldn't see the gate from where they were, but it was ominously quiet. There was a body sprawled face down on the ground between the wall and the forest. It was an Altean mechan, with a variety of dents, scrapes, and holes in its back.

Damon addressed Erica without looking her way, "We're going to have to do our best to sneak up to the gates on the far side of the walls. Remember what I taught you about redirecting projectiles, it looks like they have guns aplenty. Don't worry about my safety, just make sure you stay in one piece. Ready?"

"Yeah." Erica said, her face a mask of determination.

The two of them stalked forward, moving around the left side of the compound. When they reached the far corner, Damon poked his head around the corner before beckoning Erica forward. As she rounded the corner, she felt her heart rate rise. There were two Diezen mechans standing around ahead of the tall wooden gates to the compound, backs to them. The mechans were motionless and the gates were closed. Damon approached the one on the right while Erica went to the left one. She raised her saber and focused on its blade, drawing the maiga from around her to surround the cutting edge in a crackling field of disruptive electric energy. That was when the Diezen spun its head around backward, staring at her with its baleful red lenses. Surprise and the unwanted memories of Diezens in Copperwood made her hesitate for a fraction of a second, in which the Diezen started to turn to match its head, bringing a repeater to bear. Panic and some measure of fear drove Erica's sword arm as she slashed across the Diezen's chest, the maiga crackling as it softened the metal of the mechan's outer carapace when the saber carved through it, along with the maiga harness beneath. She could feel the backblast of maiga as the stone ring of the harness broke, but didn't stop her swing there. She pushed as hard as she could with her new arm, cutting through the repeater as she reached the mechan's hip with her weapon. The Diezen stopped moving, so Erica planted a boot onto it and pulled her saber free while toppling the dead mechan. Looking to Damon, she saw that he had a white flame forming a brace around his right forearm with a two-foot long, three-inch wide blade extending from above his wrist. This blade was embedded through the back of the other Diezen, which hadn't had a chance to respond like the one Erica had dispatched did. Damon pulled his flaming brace-blade free and shoved the mechan with his other arm to topple it as well.

Erica released the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She had to struggle to stop her body from trembling with the combination of adrenaline and fear the memories of Copperwood instilled in her. She was about to speak when Damon raised a finger to his lips before pointing to the gates. Swallowing her apprehension, they approached the tall wooden doors which bore the marks of gunfire and blades being turned against it. Pressing his body against it, Damon managed to push the left door open. The two of them stepped inside and were greeted by the remnants of a battle. Mechans, both Diezen and Altean, lay where they had been felled. Scorched holes dotted the Alteans and the stone buildings behind them, while tall lines were burned into the Diezens and the walls behind Erica.

"Damn," Damon muttered as he knelt next to an Altean mechan, "They were prepared to face us, they brought maiguns to deal with the Army and didn't bother with ballistic weapons."

Maiguns, a catch-all term to refer to weapons that fired focused beams of maiga, were not rare, but were feared for their abilities to melt armour in an instant. As Erica looked around at the felled Mechans, she noticed something. "There aren't any weapons left here, from either side."

"The Diezens made off with a handful of E4 pulse carbines then," When Damon stood and saw Erica's confused expression, he continued, "The maiguns our mechans carry with the tall and narrow barrels? I'm sure you're familiar with the design even if you didn't know their name."

The taller profile of the standard Altean armament came to mind now, tall rifles with barrels that dropped below the fore grip, painted the same desert tan as most things Altean. She had seen them in passing a few times lately, and recalled that the mechans on the Invictus were armed with them as well. "So now the Diezens have the ones that were here?"

"Unfortunately." Damon faced Erica, irritation clear on his features, "I only hope that the stone internals are too damaged from the fighting to be used further. Regardless, we have confirmed the worst-case scenario has occurred: Diezens have taken pointward Bladefell up to at least this point in order to silence our communications and keep the Army from deploying in force. We need to keep going, with any luck there may be some survivors."

Erica felt a pang of unease as he walked past, his features a foreboding glower. He didn't have much faith in his last statement. Steeling herself for the worst as more memories of Copperwood flashed by, the pair of Alteans exited the compound and headed south.