Archcore: Echo of Ion

[08] - [Curse of Ion]

"A joint project between Vanadis and APEX? To finish her project on mass produced Psion units? Why?"

Erin simply shook her head at Cyclase, "While Proxima did give some information regarding this, she wasn't exactly clear on all the details. Obviously, she's keeping some important details out of the light, but she wants to create more of them. Only difference would be the Psions would be unmanned, controlled by an A.I. system."

"She received quite the support from this project as well." Kate added, "In the end, it didn't matter if we supported it or not, she still managed to get the funding."

"There's likely some ulterior motives to this." Cyclase said, "Eventually, it'll only be a matter of time before she starts strong arming her way into the other groups. Then she'll turn to Earth. What were Ricardo and Davide's responses to it?"

"Well, it's a joint project with Vanadis, obviously Ricardo is going along with it."

"Right, of course. You said that already."

Kate then cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention, "As for Davide, it's still unclear on his standing. Any who questioned his response got nothing. Hilda does seem to believe he refused to give Proxima any backing. Cradle does have their hands full after all, it would cause more problems if we took on more work than we could handle."

Ending the call, Cyclase leaned back into his chair. He then looked to the other end of the room where Amy stood carrying a tablet in both hands, "You got all that, right?"

"Yes, of course, sir."

"At one point, it was Cradle and Vanadis working together, now it seems Vanadis has a new partner in APEX. All of this for her new type of Dreadnoughts. It seems that Dreadnought, Raven and its pilot really could've been just a test for the real project."

"Proxima has her new project lifted off the ground. I wonder what will happen next?"

A few days after Proxima's announcement of the project for Psion type Dreadnoughts. Nerissa decided to get in contact with her, even after every part of her mind urged against the idea, Nerissa went ahead anyway. However, with Proxima no longer present in the Vanadis central colony, Nerissa could only speak through calls. Through her tablet, she called Proxima, only using the audio function.

"Nerissa Nanaura, I must say this is quite an unexpected surprise. Why would you call?"

"You know why." Nerissa said, "Why would you make me a shareholder in this project?"

"Quite simple, really. Did you, or did you not agree to back this project?" Proxima asked. Nerissa was silent, recalling the moment she took the chance and agreed to the project, "I know you did, Nerissa. Which means you see some value in this project. What was it that made you agree? I could make a guess to that."

"Azuma." Nerissa thought to herself.

"Then if that's the case, would I be entitled to ask you some questions?" Nerissa started. She didn't wait for Proxima's response as she began asking questions immediately after.

"Recently, I've been hearing words get thrown around and I want to know, an augmented human, is Azuma one of those? Why create something like a Psion? Why use synthetic Ion as a source of power for them? And more importantly, why would you use Azuma as the test for these new types of Dreadnoughts? What if he had gotten hurt or worse?"

On her end, Proxima looked up to Wallace and Rosario who stood before her. The two gave a quick look to each other before looking at Proxima, nodding to her. She simply smiled, "Alright, Nerissa. I'll tell you what I can and send you the rest.