Meanwhile Dhanyl is led by the sower in a sideroom which could have been some kind of recrational room , but it was so decayd it was hard to tell . The sower swiftly flows through that room into another "This Unit found readings of an anomaly , but first this unit will show you another picked up reading " it increased its lamp´s output to illuminate the sideroom , it was filled with brokendown computational devices and other hardware but mostly what looked like data storage devices  , some of it still looked functional .

As Dhanyl saw the Pile of hardware, his heart skipped a beat. With the information in these slates, who knows what discoveries he could make.

But then it dawned on him. The realisation of the cruel humour this situation was soaked in. 

"Well, shit... We'll need someone far bigger than us to get all of this back to the shuttle."

There is a tense silence, a stringent pause between the fighters for a second. Then three. Five...

The Remnant's eyes flash, and it lunges, its footsteps simultaneously discordant and musical in their rhythm, its path swerving and taking a strange path across the floor The whips crackle and spark as they trail alongside it before it swings them both inward in a scissor-like slashing motion. Dust kicks up in a cloud behind it, filling the air with an almost festive glow as it struck for Valorum's midsection.

Even as it struck, the Remnant felt something inside it shudder at its own actions. It was the shudder of an awakening, of a cold engine rapsing to life, and a brief though crossed its mind.

Current condition: Living.

As the Remnant began its charge, Valorum stood completely still, watching as the machine approached in a drunken, swerving pattern. When it swung its whips from both sides, Valorum began his own charge, only making it three steps before falling onto his knees and bending backwards, sliding beneath the two crackling whips that flew over him. Once they had passed, Valorum stood back up, shifted the grip on his glaive into a close-left form and continued his charge, rapidly closing the distance between him and his opponent.

Alice tiredly plucked away at keys on the bridge, filing away yet another seemingly-endless series of reports.

Ever since they'd lost communication with the surface, she'd filled her time giving the Saviour a complete inspection from bow to stern,  to make sure her ship was in the best shape it could be and to avoid any more unusual surprises like sudden Cravers or droids hiding in the holds.

Unfortunately, the inspection only took up so much time and communication had still not been re-established.   She'd started going through the backlog of the crew reports, proof-reading the files submitted by her comrades and archiving them properly.    The engineer's purpose in doing so was twofold:  the landing party likely would have more to write upon their return and it let her get into the crews' heads a little.   It was a small thing, but by reading what they felt was important to send home, she felt she could get a handle on their personalities if only a little.

She flicked another spent cigarette into the mug she'd swiped from the galley, making a mental note to dispose of that as soon as the shuttle was on its way back.   The scrubbers would mask the scent, doubly so after her optimizations.

Valorum grunted as he skidded past the Remnant, seeing the scrape his lunging stab created easily stitch itself back up. Turning and bracing for an attack, Valorum was caught off-guard when the Remnant aimed for the floor and sent surges of lightning through the ground and up the Vodyani's legs.

"Gaah!!"

Valorum's knees buckled and he leaned on his glaive as electricity surged through his body, setting off internal systems warnings as the voltage tripped his circuits and he began to lose functionality.

The Remnant seemed surprised, as if it had not intended to create the surge, but it nonetheless took advantage of Valorum's weakened state, its eyes flashing. "OPPONENT APPEARS WEAK TO ENERGY ATTACKS: OPENING DETECTED." Its mind flared with activity for only a moment, logging this information before it quelled itself and the construct returned to the battle.

Stepping rapidly forward, the machine dropped to a knee and swung one whip at Valorum's neck, with the intent to grab the Vodyani and inflict further electrical damage.

The Sower quickly turns, expecting a foe. As it was greeted by a friend it did not stop it's spin, but reduces its momentum. As the robots main sensors face the complex piece of hardware again it starts to move in an orbit around it , both it's spin and movement speed fit so it's vision locked on the machinery.

“This Unit is starting overall scan and investigation of endless Hardware”

After 3 Orbits it equips it's toolarm with an equivalent of an wrench.

“This Unit will attempt to de.install the hardware into movable pieces. Removing bolts”

7-4-1-N-7-3-D stops to unscrew a mechanical bolt, moving on after that until it reaches the next one.

“For the proper cutting of complicated connections between sub-parts Dhanyls support is requested”

All in all one could even think that it completely ignored the arrival of Laudmas, more focused on the task at hand.

"I needed the walk,"  Alice said simply, as she worked at her terminal,  "And you can't get a view like this from a monitor.   I hope the ground team's okay.  No one's responded to my hails."

With a sigh, she went back to her status screens.     Everything was fine.   As it had been the past hundred times she'd checked.

Ylona put the report down with a sigh. She was sure Valorum had done his best to try and be impersonal in writing this, but to her it was obvious that it was written by him and not her. He spent a lot of words on tracking the morale of the crew, down to individual disputes and grudges, something that she did not much time worrying about. Valorum was in charge, commanded respect, and nobody openly defied him, which was good enough for her. After some thought, she decided that that was probably why he had been hired as chaplain and she as navigator, because while she didn't care who disliked whom over an unsettled favour, she very much cared about how the planets moved. She took the liberty to add a few astronomical details to the report, trying her best to imitate his writing style.

When the orbit of the Saviour brought it back out of the planet's shadow and therefore in radio contact with the shuttle, Ylona didn't notice the repeated hails for a while, since they were directed at the ground team and therefore didn't get amplified as output for the speakers. Only once she had signed the report and put it down did she notice the amount of radio traffic she had missed.

"Shuttle to Saviour here", she opened a channel to the mothership, "It's no use trying to hail ground team. They're inside the ruins, and their last transmission was about going down an elevator. Most likely, they're deeper down a shaft than a single relay can offer. Right now, all we can do is wait. How is the weather up there? It's a bit windy where I'm at."

"Clear skies as far as the eye can see,"   Alice chuckled,  "If I'm reading our sensors right,  you may want to find a canyon or some other outcropping for shelter.   There's a storm approaching that might get a little rough.   I'm sure the shuttle can handle it but I'd hate to need to repaint it this early in our trip.   I only brought so many cans after all."

Ylona chuckled, then spoke into the microphone again: "You might want to re-think that once you know what's the weather here is like. There's hurricane-force adiabatic winds on ground level, and I'm currently hovering up here in a jetstream to get out of the turbulence. Not sure what cloud pattern you're looking at that makes you think there's a storm coming, but I bet you a dust bottle it's not worse than what the guys went through on their way to the entrance."

(Written with permission from BeatusBellator)

The Remnant's eyes widened at the sight; the Vodyani's new shield momentarily stunned it into inaction as it attempted to calculate what in the name of Tor was occurring right in front of it. The patterns on the staff matched those that could be seen around its facility. What did this mean? Where did this primitive construct get such a weapon and how? How could it manipulate Dust?

Too many questions. Too many questions to answer.

The Remnant's ocular sensors sharpened when it saw its opponent stagger, and its processors suddenly realigned, banking its plethora of questions for later analysis. It saw weakness, and it was programmed to strike whenever weakness was sensed. Whatever this barrier's cause, it was only as strong as its wielder, and it's wielder looked to be ready to collapse. So the Remnant began its assault, driving its whips at the barrier and viciously striking it. Lighting scattered across its surface and sparks flew with every strike, and even through the haze of golden light, the Remnant could see its opponent flinching with every blow.

Attacks remain effective. Repeat Cycle. Repeat Cycle.

----------

As another volley of blows struck his barrier, Valorum cringed. He could feel the impact ripple through his mind as he focused on maintaining Stormbreaker's shield. There wasn't much else he could do, really. Though he had not dared to bow his head from the strain, he was still leaning on Stormbreaker for support. Though the shield he had successfully blocked the Remnant's infernal lighting, all it had to do was strike the ground if it wanted to paralyze him. And on top of that, he felt so incredibly tired already...

To think this diet of Dust would leave me so weak...

But as the Custos had preached so many times, weakness was only a physical obstacle; through heart and devotion, it could always be overcome. Valorum suddenly began to sing a low, droning prayer; one that he had long practised in his formative years. He prayed for fortune and strength to find him, that he would have the power to fulfil his oaths, and sure enough, he felt his willpower become bolstered from the prayer. From a supernatural power or a mere placebo, he could not say, but recalling his oaths and his heritage filled the Vodyani with renewed vigor, and helped his fevered mind concoct a scheme to win this battle. Though it was dangerous and imperfect, it was possibly his best chance to succeed and leave his oaths unbroken...though the Remnant wouldn't enjoy it.

With new strength rising within him, Valorum straightened up and held Stormbreaker aloft in both hands like a processional staff. His thoughts fell into the rhythm of his prayer and he was still for only another moment before beginning to walk forward. It was a slow and deliberate motion, but when the pattern of his opponent's electrified strikes fell out of rhythm for more than a second, the Vodyani felt a shard of satisfaction; the construct was hesitating. 

Just like Sagittarius III.

(To be Continued)