The Adjutant droned as numerous interfaces were pulled up right in front of Altair. In one interface, he could see multiple anomalies marked with a red glow. Altair's eyes sparked with curiosity.

  "Adjutant, what is this...?" He stammered as he talked. "It seems to envelop the sky?" He leaned in for a closer look, his earlier instability now gone like a wisp of air.

  The Adjutant beeped numerous times, trying to intake more power from all the processing cores it had currently deployed. With a brief buzz, the Adjutant chirped back in.

  "Lieutenant, based on the information I have gathered within the past few moments, leads to a single point." The Adjutant whirred for a while, then continued, "Unknown biological matter is being assimilated throughout the sky." The Adjutant fizzed.

  Like a drop of metal, his heartbeat spiked for a few moments, but then, realizing the current state of the world he found himself in, he calmed down.

  "Could it be the Precursors?" His voice was firm but weary.

  "Biological signatures and technological emissions do not match any known worlds." The Adjutant droned. "However, I recommend that we should momentarily raise our shields."

  "That makes sense." Altair agreed. "But we almost burned through our resource reserves?" He grumbled. "Is there no other way for us to gather more resources?" He dreaded his situation.

  "There is one thing we could try..." The Adjutant buzzed, bordering on uncertainty.

  A glint of light appeared along his irises, and a growing battle instinct kicked in.

  "Now, now. You have my attention." Altair's lips curled slightly. "We have been together for more than three thousand iterations. If you truly are gaining sentience, you would know." He leaned in closer to the interface, his smile growing fonder, his earlier sadness now melting away.

  "Gasp!" The Adjutant hummed as if to mock him, which also seemed to have a double meaning. "Well, I have been studying the strange atmospheric particles that seem to have strange energy within them for a while." The Adjutant said.

  "Go on, don't blue-ball me now." Altair said as his interest grew.

  "Ever since we arrived on this world, the Ironside seemed to be passively harvesting the strange particles." The Adjutant continued. "I figured if the Ironside is passively absorbing it, then that must mean the energy is very malleable."

  Altair contorted his face into a perplexed expression. "You've been researching a lot and we have been here for less than a day." He said in amazement.

  "I figured I can't waste my processing power," the Adjutant buzzed in a higher tone, "especially as we are in an unknown location." The Adjutant stopped, then continued, "It is all to ensure your survival, Lieutenant."

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  Upon hearing that, Altair simply smiled pleasantly. "Alright, so what did you figure out?"

  "During our fight earlier with the abominations, whenever we killed each of them, a vast amount of atmospheric particles was absorbed into the Ironside." The Adjutant whirred, then continued, "A sudden idea then sparked within my mind as I observed the strange sky."

  "Oho." Altair exclaimed, as he pieced together what the Adjutant had informed him of.

  "The atmospheric particles in the air seem to gather into the clouds, and out of nothing, biological matter starts to appear." The Adjutant buzzed.

  "Just like the abominations from earlier," Altair said, his eyes now wide open. "This world truly is one of wonders."

  "I figured that if I am able to do the same, then I believe we can mold the energy into the right atomic composition, which would solve our logistical problems." The Adjutant fizzed. "Furthermore, theoretically, we could make upgrades to the Ironside, though that would require a massive amount of atmospheric particles."

  "Alright, I approve of this, Adjutant." Altair quickly approved of it, even though it was still in the theoretical stage. "If we are successful, this would enable us to go on for a longer period."

  Altair, upon finishing, gazed back into the external cameras. His eyes opened wide as he gazed back with increasing intensity.

  "What are they doing?" He asked in a confused manner.

  Mira, who had been standing for a few minutes now, had sweated enough to fill a bucket and swallowed enough saliva to fill a glass.

  "What are you doing?" The ancient construct buzzed abruptly.

  "W-What?" Mira contorted her face, confused as to what the construct was implying.

  "I mean, why are you just standing there menacingly?" The construct whirred once again.

  For some inexplicable reason, Mira felt awkward.

  "Is this how the ancient civilization of old usually talked?" She grumbled deep within her mind.

  "I-I'm sorr—" She stuttered, but was cut off, as she felt a deep forbidding feeling around her. "It can't be!" Mira said, as she snapped her head towards the sky and back to her partymates, who were now trembling in fear.

  "M-Mira, are we going to survive this?" Lyria said, despair plastered all over her face, as a single tear slid down her cheeks.

  "Damn, out of all days." Brennan gripped his axe tightly, to the point his palms turned white.

  "Quick! We must find shelter from the black rain!" Mira screamed at the top of her lungs.

  "Lieutenant, I don't think that's how first contact procedures should happen." The Adjutant buzzed like an annoyed child.

  "Hm, honestly this is much better. I'd rather be comfortable than to stick with dead traditio—" Altair said, but was stopped as numerous red flashes appeared throughout all the interfaces.

  "Lieutenant, numerous atmospheric particles are forming up high in the sk—" The Adjutant was cut off as well.

  Altair gazed far into the sky, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Is the rain black?" He whispered in shock.

  Then without a second thought, he gazed back at the sentient persons in front of the Ironside, who were now packing up and panicking.

  "Adjutant, open the external communicators and make a small hole in our newly formed shields."

  "Affirmative, Lieutenant!" The Adjutant buzzed in confirmation.

  With trembling hands, Mira lunged for her package and helped her partymates. Around her, her instincts were screaming that they were in danger, and any second lost would get them killed.

  Then, like a sliver of hope, the ancient construct, which they had seemingly forgotten about, suddenly whirred into action. Mira, with a sudden realization, pivoted her head towards the construct.

  She gazed at the glowing red lights around its body and along its dark hull, then towards the inscriptions, "United Earth Defense Force."

  "Wait!" The voice reverberated throughout the entire forest.