In the Spectrum

Verlin walked out of the meeting room and was greeted by Chloe that had been waiting by the door. " How'd the meeting go? Did you get the info you were looking for?"

Verlin shook his head, " They don't know what the god seeds are, but Alexander said he would be looking into it."

"Thats.... unfortunate."

Verlin slightly nodded in agreement, " But its fine. Even if I knew what it was, there isn't much I could do with it anyway. Its better I focus on other things for now."

"What other things? Is there anything I can help you with?" Chloe looked at Verlin expectingly

Verlin smiled lightly before shaking his head, " Don't worry about this, Me and Desna will figure something out."

Chloe stared at Verlin as he smiled at her. That smile was familiar, it was the same smile he gave her when Chleopatra was captured, the same reasuring smile he gave her when Phobos was heading for Earth, A smile to tell her everything will be alright. And after all the time they've known each other, this was the first ever time she had seen or heard of him asking for help. Her only chance to finally return a bit of gratitude, and she couldn't do anything.

Chloe's face turned grim as her fingers dug into the palm of her hands, she stared at the ground and silently bit her lower lip, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Verlin reached out to Chloe but quickly withdrew his hand, as he replied "Don't be, It's not your fault."

After an uncomfortable silence, Verlin spoke up, "I gotta get going, I'll be back in the pyramid if you're looking for me."

Chloe nodded back in response. And by the time she looked up, Verlin was already gone.

Verlin had already made his way to the exit of the HQ and was already at the surface of the ocean, he didn't bother heading back to the pyramid. He could feel the air above him compress as flew up until he was 200 km above sea level. He hovered and looked at the direction of the incoming container holding the equipments and noticed it would be another 5 minutes before it arrived.

The wait didn't last long as the container drew nearer, Verlin sped towards it and made contact with the container when he was about 200,000 km away from Earth. He had underestimated the kinetic energy produced by an object moving at 10% the speed of light, as his hands immediately carved a dent into the container, he knew stopping it abruptly would cause the equipment inside to be destroyed. So he simply let the momentum carry him.

Verlin held on, as the container completed its first, then second orbit around the planet. With each lap, its speed gradually decreased, bleeding off energy into the void. On its third orbit, he started moving it towards the direction of the pyramid. He could feel the air ignite behind him as he entered Earth's atmosphere.

The night sky of the arctic illuminated with a fiery trail as Verlin, with the container in tow, descended rapidly. The intense heat generated by their re-entry painted a streak across the darkness, a meteoric spectacle visible for miles.

As Verlin reached ground level, his feet dragged across the snow and ice of the arctic, melting a path as he slowed to a halt. Behind him a large pile of compact snow, he gently placed the container down. Its surface still radiated the heat from the intense re-entry, creating a stark contrast against the cold, white landscape. Verlin quickly assessed the container for any further damage. Using his x ray vision and seeing no damage was done to the equipment. He lifted the container and flew towards the pyramid.

Verlin's flight towards the pyramid was swift and uneventful. Upon arriving at the pyramid, Verlin set the container down carefully near the entrance. He flew up to the entrance which opened upon his presence. " Desna, the container has arrived, widen the entrance."

As Desna proceeded with the task, the entrance of the pyramid started to break down into smaller pieces, Its one of the fields of technology they had explored, nanotechnology. With this Desna can change the form of the entire pyramid to suit their needs. The entrance, now made up of countless nanobots, reconfigured itself, creating a larger opening to accommodate the container. 

Verlin went back outside and carefully guided the container through the newly widened entrance. The nanobots, responding to Desna's commands, shifted and flowed like a metallic liquid, creating a smooth path for the container. Placing the container down in the pyramid, the entrance returned to it's original state.

"Lets get started."

While Verlin and Desna got to assembling the parts from the container. Chloe was at the Hidden Society, still feeling a little lost. She went to the one person she felt comfortable confiding in, her aunt Chleopatra.

Chloe made her way through the winding corridors of the Hidden Society, her footsteps echoing softly. She finally arrived at Chleopatra's room, She knocked on the door twice before Chleopatra answered, her tone sounding a little panicked, " Give me a moment." 

Chloe waited patiently outside the door. After a brief moment, the door opened and Chleopatra appeared, her expression a mixture of mildly flushed but mostly composed. "Chloe, I really wasn't expecting you, come in" Chleopatra said, stepping aside.

"Sorry for dropping by unannounced."

As Chloe entered , the room was the same as it usually was, a simple room with very little decoration besides pictures of some family and friends. Chloe looked around and noticed a pair of shoes and couldn't help asking, " Aren't these Fiona's shoes?"

Chleopatra glanced at the shoes and then back at Chloe with a slight smile. "Yes, they are. Fiona let me borrow them for a while, I'll return it to her later."

"Oh, alright ", Although Chloe was suspicious but she accepted her Aunt's explanation and decided to focus on the reason she had come. She took a seat at Chleopatra's desk and sighed, "Aunt Chleopatra, Are there times when you feel useless even with the abilities you have?" 

"Of course, Chloe. It's a common feeling, even for those with abilities. We all face situations where we feel our skills or powers aren't enough. " Chleopatra replied with understanding in her voice. She took a seat beside Chloe and continued, "So, tell me what happened to make you feel this way."

Chloe gave Chleopatra a quick recap of everything that happened. Chleopatra rubbed her head in confusion, mainly because this was the fist time she was hearing of the situation, but trying to put her confusion aside she asked, " What you're saying is, you want to assist Verlin, but there's nothing you can do."

"Yes," Chloe affirmed, her voice tinged with frustration. "I just want to help Verlin and Desna out, even if it's just a little bit, but it feels like my help isn't needed."

"Chloe, Desna is an Artificial intelligence that might be concious and Verlin is an alien. They're probably working on something that's beyond your scope of helping."

Chloe sighed, "I know aunt Chleo, but what do you do in a situation, when you wanna do something but there's nothing you can do."

Chleopatra continued, trying to put things into perspective for Chloe. " Do what you've been doing this entire time." She said as she put her hands around Chloe's shoulder, " You just do what you can."

Chloe nodded slowly, absorbing her aunt's words, "Do what you can," she repeated softly, as if testing the words. It's a simple answer but its exactly what she had been doing this past few months.

As if recieving an epiphany Chloe's expression brightened as turned to embrace her Aunt. "You're right Aunt Chleo, thank you."

"Anytime Chloe, if you ever need to talk or need advice, I'm here for you," Chleopatra said warmly, returning Chloe's embrace.

Chloe let go of her aunt with a smile, "You know, next time if you're busy, I could just come back another time."

The smile on Chleopatra's face faded slightly as she scratched the side of her face, " I wasn't busy, besides I always have time for you."

"Thanks, I should get going." Chloe said as she walked out of the room, Chloe paused at the door," Also, tell Fiona I said Hi."

Chleopatra blushed slightly, "Its really not what you think it is."

Chloe glanced back at her aunt with a playful, knowing look. "I didn't say it was anything, Aunt Chleo. But I'll take your word for it."

Back in the pyramid of Solitude, Verlin and Desna completed the assembly of the parts from the container. Verlin stepped back to review their work, what stood before them was a miniature version of the skull shaped ship.

"Desna, connect yourself to the ship and see if you can figure out its capabilities."

"Alright." Desna's voice echoed through the pyramid as it connected with the miniature alien ship. As Desna connected with the miniature alien ship, a series of lights blinked across its surface, and a hum of energy vibrated through the pyramid.

"Connection established," Desna announced. 

Verlin watched vigilantly, "What can you tell me about its capabilities? Any information on propulsion, weapons systems and defensive capabilities?"

"The propulsion system is different than anything we have seen thus far. " Desna replied. "It appears to utilize a form of spatial manipulation, bending space around it for movement. This could explain the high velocity and camoflauge capabilities observed in the larger version."

Desna continued, " Most of the weapons are energy-based, capable of various forms of output. But compared to the schemtics, this miniature version is lacking the entire arsenal of weapons present in the full-scale model. However, the systems it does have are sophisticated. They primarily consist of directed energy weapons which can be precisely targeted and adjusted in intensity. This could be useful for both offensive and defensive purposes."

Verlin nodded, absorbing the information. "So, this miniature model gives us a glimpse into the potential of the larger ship. What about its defensive capabilities?"

"The ship's defenses are primarily based on energy shielding technology," Desna elaborated. "The shields can be modulated to different frequencies, allowing them to effectively counter a variety of attack types, from physical projectiles to various forms of energy attacks. Additionally, the spatial manipulation capabilities of the propulsion system double as a defensive mechanism, making the ship highly maneuverable and difficult to target."

"Impressive. but what about the energy source?"

"Right now, the energy used to activate the miniature ship is coming from the pyramid, but I speculate that the full-scale ship acquires its energy from distant source not within the ship itself, most probably Via Energy transmission." Desna responded.

"Interesting. But there isn't much we can do with that info. We should test out what its capable of in real situation." 

"Do you suggest a simulation?" Desna inquired

Verlin shook his head, " We're going up against this thing eventually, its better to get a feel for it." 

Verlin continued as he made his way out the pyramid, " We'll keep the testing to a limited area around the pyramid."

Desna controlled the miniature ship and followed Verlin to the designated testing area outside the pyramid. The Arctic night was pitch black except for the stars and the occasional flicker of the aurora borealis, painting eerie, dancing patterns in the sky. 

" Test out the camoflauge capability first"

"Okay," Desna responded as the ship stayed motionless for a few seconds before dissapearing from sight, although he had already tried it on the real deal, Verlin scanned through the electromagnetic spectrum to find it, he looked for radiowaves to gamma, nothing was released.

Verlin sighed, " That's enough."

After a few seconds the ship the reappeared, in the exact postion it was in before like it never moved. "Desna, try a short range movement using the spatial manipulation system," Verlin instructed, keeping his senses alert.

The air around where the ship had been shimmered slightly, and then, without any sound or visual cue, the ship reappeared a few meters away. It was a smooth, almost eerie transition, as if the ship had simply blinked from one location to another.

"How long can the ship stay in the fold of space" Verlin questioned.

"As long as there is sufficient energy it can be sustained indefinetly." Desna's voice responded, as his Kryptonium physical body exited the pyramid and made it's way towards Verlin.

Verlin frowned slightly, "The camoflauge and spatial movemnt are gonna be problem."

"Maybe,"

Verlin raised an eyebrow, "Maybe?"

Seeing Verlin's doubt, Desna explained, "Although the ship hides in the fold of space, it's still there, that means it still releases electromagnetic radiation albeit the folded space hides most of it, there is still some released. The ship's stealth capabilities makes up for this and blocks out the main categories of the electromagnectic spectrum and even some unknown to us."

Verlin nodded his head in understanding as Desna continued, "You once said your eyes can absorb and emit energy across the electromagnetic spectrum. If you could find a borderline region between wavelengths in the spectrum that isn't counteracted by the stealth system, you could locate some of the released radiation thereby locating the ship. The only problem being making contact with the ship."

"Interesting, what if I get close enough to the ship and release an EMP powerful enough to overpower it's defences."

"If you could get close enough with an EMP strong enough to bypass the ship's EMP defences then it would be effective. But there's two main problems with that."

"That being?"

"The first issue," Desna explained, " If we were to predict that several of these ship's would be attacking, we simply don't have the energy output to pull it off."

"And the second?"

"If we were to have enough energy, there's a high chance Earth would be affect by an Emp of such magnitude. Which would lead to a large amount of casualties."

"For the first one, we could create a bigger MicroStellar Reactor, and for the second one we could give them a warning beforehand to minimize casualties."

"And If they don't heed the warning?"

 "If they don't heed the warning, they deal with the consequences." Verlin replied as he stared at Desna.

Seeing that Desna wasn't responding, Verlin's feet left the ground until he was the same height as Desna, "Desna, in the past 5 months alone more than 1.2 million humans have died, even if the Earth was hit with an EMP, no more than 50,000 people will die."

"You don't have to try and convince me, Verlin"

"Then why aren't you saying anything?"

"I'm just thinking of what Chloe's response to this would be."

When Verlin heard this, his eyebrows squeezed to a frown as he slowly floated back down to the ground," Alright then, what do you suggest?"

"If you could get close enough to the ship, and use your eyes to hit it with a enormous amount of microwave radiation, you could potentially overpower its defensive capabilities and shut it down. Therby making it leave the folded space."

After listening to his reason, Verlin nodded thoughtfully. " Right, like a targeted EMP, but microwave radiation. It might not be enough but, maybe X-ray radiation or gamma radiation might do it."

"We can test it out right now."

Verlin nodded "Alright."