595 felt compelled to follow the Vreta into the borehole, despite a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that this was a terrible idea. The whole area was unstable, and who knew what was on the other end! Somebody find me a weapon, she thought to herself, and her mind flashed back to two strange looking hands cradling an awkward-looking gun. The thought left as quickly as it arrived, and the Agent obediently entered the hole after the Senator.

They quickly wiggled along the claustrophobic tunnel with the help of their tentacles. 595 knew that these arteries crisscrossed the entire reef and were reserved for VIPs, military and government employees. She knew they were supposed to be reinforced, but that knowledge was no comfort when after a few minutes a crack appeared above their heads. The two sides began grinding together like two tectonic plates. “Go, go, go!” 595 flashed, pushing up against Vreta as the sides tightened around her bulbous form.

The soldier noticed the crack and turned a right angle at the next junction. They burst from the tunnel as fast as they could, just when millions of tons of coral shifted violently, crushing the last of the Senator’s staff members before they could escape. 595 flashed a pattern of pure anguish and rushed to pull at the tentacle tip protruding from the rock face - it tore clean away.

The Agent dropped the dead appendage and turned to face the group. Only then did she notice that none of them were looking at her. “What’s happening?” She asked, surveying the scene.

They were on a ledge of polished stone that wrapped around this section of the reef - a gargantuan monolith protruding from vast sandy plains on the ocean bed, extending all the way to the unlivable heights above. Far off in the distance, they could see other reefs through the dusty waters. One of them looked to be erupting with jets of lava.

The sounds of battle were deafening here. 595 noticed manned point defence cannons clinging like limpets to the ledge and reef above them. They were all firing missiles at once.

A sleek metal vessel shaped like a squid but hundreds of times the size roared over their heads before heading upwards. 595 followed it with her eyes, and realised dozens of ships were rising from the reefs, heading towards-

Oh.

High above them, hovering like an obsidian tear in the bright backdrop of the surface, was the Hegemon. Its tetrahedral mass hung completely motionless in the water, wavy points of energy flickering all around it like monochrome sunbeams. The shoals of combat craft strafing it looked miniscule by comparison.

Another mechanical siren pierced the cacophony around them, sending a chill through 595’s nervous system. A thought entered her mind that was entirely alien; a deep, soulless evil.

><^You [h2]DARE[/h2] defy your [h2]GOD?[/h2]

“It’s not safe here. I need to get you on a transport right away, sire. Are you hurt? We need to swim along the reef.” The soldier shouted in front of Vreta, checking him up and down. A group of other soldiers barged past them, carrying nets of equipment behind them. “I need a weapon, and we should fight, not run!” 595 shouted, immediately feeling a disapproving tug in the back of her consciousness.