Raid on the Cult of Kronos

The Raid on the Cult of Kronos is the first major event that resulted in the founding of the PHIA Phorce. While it was not called that at the time, it was the first time all the original founding members had come together for a significant mission. The events leading up to the raid can in many ways be considered an origin story for Sophia Delphi. Her discovery of Twinkle, his capture by the Cult of Kronos and his subsequent rescue were cataclyst events for the organization forming its initial bonds.

Background

Sophia and Angela

In 2020 AB on the planet Yeddo, Sophia Delphi was two years into her virtuoarchaeology degree at the University of Oraulan. She had moved to an apartment in Port Oraulan from Midori Monastery. One of Sophia's passions was her relentless curiosity over the origin of her powers in technokinesis, the ability to manipulate electric currents and to effectively mentally project herself inside of electronics. Although her time in the monastery taught her how to control her powers, she knew very little about them due to much knowledge about technokinesis being lost to the Blackout, an event where 2,000 years ago, 99% of all human knowledge vanished. Despite the cramped living conditions, she remained in good spirits. Having access to a motorcycle allowed her to explore Port Oraulan with relative ease, including her grandmother's café known as Mimi's Milkshakes.

As part of a research project, Sophia investigated the ruins of a mega-city that Port Oraulan was built on top of. Common artifacts found in the area were random excerpts of data from various computer terminals and other electronics. From these artifacts, data structures, memory dumps and other stray information could be extracted using various tools - Sophia herself used her technokinesis to read the data. While students were permitted to survey the outermost portions of the ruins, a fenced off area was considered off limits due to sightings of Rampants, rogue robots and virtual life forms infected with a virus or disrupted by corrupted files causing them to indiscriminantly attack humans on sight.

At the mega-city digsite, Sophia met another student named Angela Harrison who was in her first year at the university. The two got to know each other and quickly became friends. Angela had also explained that she was struggling on one of her assignments, and Sophia offered to help her out. Sophia invited her to meet at Mimi's Milkshakes where they could look into the assignment.

Later while Sophia and Angela were enjoying themselves at Mimi's Milkshakes, Sophia caught wind that her grandmother's business had been struggling financially. Virtuoso, a supposedly humanitarian organization that was helping Port Oraulan recover from the recent end to the Virtual Wars, had been harassing Mimi's establishment over the use of real food instead of food synthesizers, claiming it to be inefficient and a hindrance to the city's recovery. Despite Mimi's business being perfectly legal and having all the proper permits, Mimi suspected that Virtuoso was issuing bogus fines most likely to drive her out of business and to seize control over the entire city's source of food. While Mimi assured her granddaughter that she had the situation under control and had a lawyer, Sophia was concerned that Mimi was going to run out of money for legal fees.

Searching for an Artifact

Against Mimi's reservations, Sophia decided to help her out. While Sophia had very little money to her name, she was well aware that certain virtuoarchaeological artifacts were worth a fortune due to their possibility of containing information that could restore knowledge lost in the Blackout. Theoretically, were she to find something of interest buried in the Mega-City Digsite, she could sell it off to help Mimi pay for legal fight against Virtuoso. Although Angela had no personal stakes in the matter, she felt she had to come along anyway to help a friend out. Sophia was hesistant, concerned over dragging her into a potentially dangerous situation, but she could not say no to strength in numbers.

Sophia and Angela geared up to sneak into the off limits area of the digsite. They had to remain wary of Rampants. While they did encounter a few them, the two were able to quickly dispatch them. Sophia was far more experienced as a martial artist combining her abilities in technokinesis to create electrical discharges and bolts of plasma. Angela had also been training as a field medic, hoping to eventually become a military doctor one day just like her mother. She was able to keep up with Sophia despite not having any superhuman powers.

While traversing a dilapidated skyscraper, Sophia and Angela discovered an ancient terminal with a data crystal lodged inside one of the input ports. It had gotten stuck there due to years of dust and rust, but the crystal itself had somehow remained in near perfect condition. Sophia used her technokinesis to carefully wriggle the data crystal free. On first glance, they identified the crystal as being well over 2,000 years old due to its overall design being a clear match as having been created by the Valerian Empire, an ancient, technologically advanced society that ruled the galaxy before the Blackout.

Because of how rare pre-Blackout artifacts were, the excitement of its monetary worth was alluring to them. First, however, they had to do more research to verify what the data crystal actually was, where it may have come from, and potentially what could be inside of it.

Researching the Data Crystal

Because Sophia and Angela has technically trespassed into an off-limits area, both of them were already at risk of expulsion if they ever revealed where they had got it from. Thus, they decided it was best to keep their research discrete. They spent many hours at the university library looking for clues. They visited several vrNet domains which contained holograms and miniature virtual worlds that included snapshot recreations of the Valerian Empire.

While at the library, they ran into a graduate student and nanomage named Kristoph Langusten who happened to be researching something else in the library. Through a simple matter of deduction, he figured out that Sophia and Angela had gone into the restricted area to obtain the artifact they were currently researching. When Sophia and Angela begged him not to tell anyone else, Kristoph agreed on the condition that he wanted to see what was in the artifact himself. He shared their sentiment that the university had been slow to process things due to the heavy bureaucracy, and he had tried to get a permit to explore that area himself for at least several years. He also shared Sophia's and Angela's concern that Port Oraulan's slow recovery from the Virtual Wars could risk Virtuoso barging in and taking over more places than they should be.

When Kristoph introduced himself with a hand shake, Sophia and Angela realized that he was only a hardlight projection. His real body was located on the planet Merin, and he had been remotely projecting himself across star systems due to personal circumstances. Nevertheless, he still wanted to help to discover the mystery of the data crystal. According to Kristoph's insights, several other data crystals like the one Sophia and Angela discovered had previously been found, but became very rare due to most of them having ended up in the hands of bandits and pirates who would subsequently sell them on the black market. The data crystals were designed to house a virtual life form, an intelligent, digital entity. And it was certainly possible that the entity could still be alive, having been dormant for centuries. This was further verified as Sophia claimed that using her technokinesis, she could almost hear something inside of it.

Through great effort, Sophia managed to find a way to download the virtual life form from the data crystal into the real world. Appearing as a holographic entity was a small creature named Twinkle. While Twinkle had no memories of who he used to be, he found himself suddenly and unquestionably loyal to Sophia, acknowledging her as if she were royalty. Angela teased Sophia in how she had a new admirer.

Twinkle additionally showed an aptitude for absorbing and learning information, and he quickly picked up on a few written texts from the library nearby to learn about the world around him. Sophia also discovered that she apparently began to share some sort of psychic connection with Twinkle and could now sense wherever he was through her technokinesis. While the group initially considered it a form of affection and thanks, they could not help but wonder if there was a deeper meaning behind it. Nevertheless, the group considered it a victory.

Interested Parties

There was still a lot of work to do with restoring the data crystal further. They hoped that they would be able to restore more of Twinkle's memories later on. But all of them were exhausted and decided it was best to take a break and go home for the day.

On the way out, a passing Virtus spots them and the data crystal they are carrying with Twinkle inside. The Virtus, automated humanoid drones tasked with carrying out Virtuoso's interests, made an offer to buy the data crystal from them. The Virtus had become aware through facial scanning and public transaction records that Sophia had been wanting to sell the data crystal in order to help her grandmother pay for legal fees. In that moment, Sophia realized the absurdity of what Virtuoso was trying to do. Not to mention, Sophia admitted that she had started to become attached to Twinkle. Now knowing that the data crystal was a home to a living creature, she was reconsidering even selling the data crystal at all.

The disappointed Virtus then assessed that the data crystal had been acquired in a restricted area of the digsite and had threatened to get them all expelled. Kristoph using his knowledge on the way Virtus cognition worked, persuaded it to leave them alone. Although they got the Virtus off their backs, Sophia couldn't help but feel that other interested parties had just become aware of her ownership of the data crystal, and that she would become a target. Nonetheless, they went about their separate ways and went home for the night.

On the way back home, Sophia got jumped by two thugs from the Hellhounds bounty hunter gang - Hati Ulfenlock and Garm Ulfenlock. While she did manage to defend herself, the Hellhounds had snatched the data crystal from her during the scuffle and ran away. Sophia chose to call the police, hoping to get someone to go after them, but unfortunately, by the time the police were able to mobilize, the Hellhounds had crossed into a region outside of Port Oraulan known as the Condemned Zone, an area where police, military and other emergency services were not permitted due to the terms set forth in a truce with the rogue nation Taranis. As far as she was concerned, the data crystal was lost forever.

Sophia was absolutely devastated. More than likely, she expected the university to find out what she did, and that would get her expelled. Worst of all, she knew she not only lost the data crystal, but also Twinkle who would surely suffer at the hands of his new captors. She fully expected him to be sold off to poachers who might try to harvest him for his cybernephrine, an illegal drug used to induce very specific emotions to someone in virtual reality. She called Angela and Kristoph to tell them the news, and told them she was ready to accept all responsibility for what happened. With the police unable to help and the Hellhounds having covered their tracks, there was nothing they could do. Angela and Kristoph could only suggest for her to get some rest for the night, and perhaps they could figure something out in the morning.

When she fell asleep, Sophia began to have a vivid dream about Twinkle. As the dream progressed, she realized it was not a dream, but Twinkle was actually reaching out to her through the psychic connection they had established. Twinkle told her that while he didn't know where the Hellhounds were taking him, he could still leave a psychic trail behind for Sophia to follow so that perhaps someone may be able to rescue him. Of course, there would only be so much time before the data crystal would get sold off and become completely unobtainable. Or worse, someone poaching Twinkle's cybernephrine and turning him into a Rampant.

With this new information, Sophia called Kristoph and Angela once again in the middle of the night, explaining what happened. While Sophia was ready to go right away, they still suggested it was important to rest and regroup in the morning given all of them were exhausted. Kristoph suggested that there was still time to locate Twinkle and that he could not have gotten far. Angela also brought up the fact that she might know some people who would be able to help find him.

Into the Condemned Zone

The next morning, the three of them met at the Onion Arcade, an establishment where Angela's father Joshua Harrison worked as a bouncer, often affectionately just being called Bouncer most of the time. The Onion Arcade was no ordinary arcade. It was a secret gathering for bounty hunters and other rogues who would accept jobs for the right price. Joshua himself was a soldier, having served as a cyber infantryman during the Virtual Wars and had his fair share of experience on the battlefield. He was naturally skeptical of Sophia and Kristoph for dragging Angela into the situation. Not to mention, Joshua was naturally hesitant to put his own daughter in more danger, but Angela told him she had always wanted to go to the Condemned Zone anyway. She had hoped to visit the ruins of her hometown one more time to pay respects to her mother Seraphina Harrison who had vanished in the Condemned Zone during the war. Convinced by Angela's heartfelt speech, Joshua agreed to help. Instead of a monetary compensation, Joshua would instead accept payment in the form of quality father-daughter time with her friends.

Joshua suggested that if it was going to be the four of them, he had to make sure all of them were combat ready. Angela vouched for Sophia after seeing her technokinesis and martial arts, and Angela felt she was strong enough to at least be able to keep up, and to help provide medical aid if necessary. Kristoph also revealed that he fought in the Merinian front of the Virtual Wars at a young age where his ability to control nanobots with his mind was used as a weapon. Of course, being mentally ready was another matter, but there were few other options. After gathering some supplies, the group was ready to go. Traveling into the Condemned Zone was going to be a risk. While normal citizens were allowed to travel there, no one would be able to rescue them if they ran into trouble.

Lycanton

The first stop for the group was the town of Lycanton, a town in the Oraulan East Condemned Zone inhabited by werewolves, one of many humanoid races in the galaxy sharing a common ancestor with ancient humans. Given its location in the Condemned Zone, Federation law did not apply. The locals were of course very wary of outsiders and would give unpleasant sneers as the group passed through the town. From here, Sophia could only get a faint idea of where Twinkle was, somewhere to the east. However, it would be far too dangerous to go any further unless they had a solid lead.

They stopped at the Blood Moon Tavern to start gathering information, Joshua advising they stay close. After asking around, Sophia spotted the two Hellhounds that had jumped her previously. Another member, the older brother Skoll Ulfenlock was also present along with the leader of the Hellhounds, Fenrir Ulfenlock, who was their father. Sophia, out of impulse, attacked them and demanded to know where they took Twinkle. The ruckus caused the entire tavern to break into a brawl, and just as Sophia was about to win, the town sheriff Helmut Shepherd broke up the fight and demanded they sort out their conflict outside.

Sophia, Angela, Kristoph and Joshua went out to an open area where Fenrir, Skoll, Hati and Garm awaited them. Hati and Garm were about to attack again before Fenrir stopped them, wishing to hear Sophia and the others out. Kristoph spoke first, asking about the data crystal. Fenrir and Skoll had been unaware of Hati's and Garm's actions, chastising them for their recklessness while Hati and Garm argued over whose idea it was to steal the data crystal and sell it off. Kristoph further inquired how they even knew about the data crystal, to which Hati and Garm eventually confessed that they received a tip off from Virtuoso about it. For awhile, an interested party was looking to acquire the data crystal, but said party was not Virtuoso, but rather someone else. It was speculated that Virtuoso's interest was purely to play multiple sides to ease themselves into gaining influence over Port Oraulan, but the more pressing matter was making sure Twinkle was still okay.

After numerous standoffs and back-and-forth banter, the Hellhounds eventually revealed who the buyer was, and they had already sold it by the time Sophia and the others arrived. While they never revealed their identity, the buyer had met the Hellhounds at the ruins of an ancient Valerian refinery near the abandoned town of Hope. Joshua and Angela were both taken for a shock, as Hope was the town they lived in before it was destroyed during the Virtual Wars. But nonetheless, that would be where their quest would take them. Sophia and the others parted ways with the Hellhounds on uneasy terms, but at least friendly enough for them to walk away without being attacked again.

Hope

Sophia and the others made their way deeper into the swampy wasteland ruined by the Virtual Wars. When they arrived at the ruins of Hope, Sophia got another psychic reading on Twinkle's location. The Hellhounds had told the truth, and he was indeed, at the ruined refinery. Angela took some time to reminisce in the ruined town, spotting landmarks that she recalled when they were in their prime as a child. Everything from a playground to a school, a shopping center and even an old pizza joint known as Francesco's Pizza and Pasta. She even recalled visiting the refinery during a school trip. Angela had also found her old childhood home and took a moment to kneel down and pay her respects with Joshua joining her. Both of them prayed that perhaps Seraphina was still out there somewhere.

As Angela gathered her emotions, she had sworn she saw someone watching her. However, the solemn moment would be interrupted by the appearance of Rampant virtual life forms that had taken on a ghastly appearance, like aggressive wayward souls. While Rampants were normal to be spotted wandering around, it was considerably unusual to see them in such a high concentration. Sophia and the others made a run for it, heading towards the refinery to take cover. Kristoph used his nanobots to create barricades to keep the Rampants out as best as possible. It was only after a short time, however, that they had gone away. Kristoph found this puzzling as usually, Rampants were persistent predators, but something else had chased them off. The group thanked whoever the mysterious savior was.

While in cover, Sophia once again managed to reach out to Twinkle. She could hear him warning them that he was not alone where he was and to expect trouble. They figured that Twinkle was talking about the buyer whom the Hellhounds sold the data crystal to.

The Raid

Geothermal Engine

Venturing further into the refinery, the group found that the ruins went far deeper than what the exterior suggested. It led to a massive subterranean complex known as the Geothermal Engine, a series of intricate machines built by the Valerians to harvest energy from the planet's core - something which was once key in powering the old Mega-City that once covered the planet's surface. The four of them had to navigate the maze of pipes, rubble and debris. Sometimes, they had to use their unique abilities. For example, Sophia would need to double jump, Kristoph would have to form nanobot bridges, Angela would swing across gaps with her whip and Joshua would use his magnetic boots to dash across walls.

Eventually, they reached the hideout where the buyout was. It was an improvised laboratory built within a defunct reactor part of the greater Geothermal Engine. The hideout was crawling not only with Rampants but also Virtus bots. While Sophia initially suspected Virtuoso was involved after all, the Virtus appeared to be modified or hijacked to some capacity. Joshua warned that they were going to be in for a tough fight, so he decided it was best to have some backup on standby - namely a few friends back at the Onion Arcade such as Lindon and Ara MacKenzie. But with Sophia's and Kristoph's powers especially, they would at least be able to hold their own and perhaps rescue Twinkle in time before anything serious happened to him.

Joshua had also double checked with Sophia and Angela in particular to make sure they were truly ready for the fight to come. While Joshua dreaded the idea of them becoming killers, he knew that it was a risk. He suggested to only incapicitate them so that Joshua's bounty hunter coworkers could capture them and take them into custody.

The Cult of Kronos

Sophia and the others went deeper into the laboratory to discover dozens of virtual life forms contained in tank-like data capsules with wires that appeared to be siphoning something from them. Sophia could feel how much pain these creatures were in from her technokinesis. She also detected Twinkle's presence and determined he was fine so far. However, the other captives weren't so lucky, and they were on the verge of becoming Rampants.

Joshua also recognized an emblem within the laboratory as belonging to a group called the Cult of Kronos, an infamous cybernephrine poaching group. The Cult of Kronos had long been a major enemy terrorizing the East Condemned Zone, and they were rumored to have ties to the rogue nation of Taranis. This was not only a chance to rescue Twinkle, but it was also a chance to flush out the poachers and send them on the run.

After taking a moment to collect themselves, Sophia and the others began the attack. They fought their way past Rampants and hijacked Virtus, plowing through them to eventually reach the main chamber where they found twelve cultists who had already begun to destroy all evidence that they were there. They trashed their equipment and began to mass delete data on their computer systems. With Sophia's technokinesis, she manged to free Twinkle by disconnecting his data crystal from the cybernephrine harvesting machines, and the two were reunited. Twinkle was eager to help, and he got to work in slowing down the data deletion process. In time, Sophia and the others manage to subdue all twelve cultists, knocking them unconscious.

When victory seemed at hand, the leader of the cult, Rark Zampos, showed himself as a holographic projection. He was angered about his operation being exposed, and Sophia called him out for being a coward for not being there in person. As one last act of defiance, Rark unleashed one of the Rampants they had been harvesting cybernephrine from - a giant mass of nanobots that moved like a gelatinous substance sprouting many tentacles. Rark disconnected his projection, hoping the Rampant would finish them off.

The Nanobot Monster

The four of them had teamed up to face the creature all at once, while Twinkle rejoined Sophia to help analyze it. It soon became clear that whatever damage they were doing to the nanobot monster would not hold. It would adapt to their attacks, and the creature would grow in size by eating the nearby machinery and absorbing it to repair any damage dealt. Kristoph, however, had found a way to slow its healing process by using his own nanobots to disrupt. But during the fight, a steel beam had collapsed and pierced Kristoph. The rest of the team gasped in shock, but Kristoph insisted he was fine as he was only a remote projection. However, because his connection from Merin to Yeddo was partially disrupted, he had difficulty maintaining his nanobots. If Sophia and the others could not destroy the nanobot monster in time, it would fully regenerate, which would make Kristoph's actions be for nothing.

Because Kristoph was one of the heavy hitters of the team, the rest of them were not sure if they could do enough damage to destroy the creature. That was when Twinkle suggested using technokinesis to get inside the creature's mind. Sophia had previously only considered using it for electronics and machinery, but Twinkle reminded her that virtual life forms and by extent, Rampants, were also machines. Twinkle would help Sophia to enter a trance-like state and establish a connection to the creature's mind. It would be up to Joshua and Angela to keep the creature busy enough as Sophia would be vulnerable while in the middle of a technokinetic trance.

With Twinkle's help, Sophia projected her consciousness into the creature's mind, finding herself inside a surreal, cybernetic dream world full of chaotic thoughts not of malice but of distress and suffering. Sophia got sick thinking about what the cultists were doing to the poor creature. After fighting past the antivirus systems, she managed to latch onto a part of the neural network that controlled the creature's emotions. With some guidance from Twinkle, Sophia managed to calm the creature enough to reveal it had an intelligent personality. This creature was not just a virtual life form, it was a human consciousness upload that had gone astray. This particular consciousness upload was that of a child who had died in a tragic accident, and it was alone and scared, having been acting on fear this whole time.

Unfortunately, the neural pathways were far too deteriorated for it to be saved. So within the creature's last moments, Sophia comforted it, telling it that everything was going to be fine. Only a short moment after, the nanobot monster collapsed into itself, dying a peaceful death. While the rest of her team cheered her on for doing the finishing blow, Sophia could not avoid letting slip a few tears over what she just witnessed. Angela gave Sophia a comforting hug while Joshua reluctantly shared a grim reminder that it's not possible to save everyone.

Twinkle did one final sweep through the remaining laboratory systems. Although there were no other surviving virtual life forms, he collected a wealth of information about Rark's operation. But in that moment, something else awakened in Twinkle. The bond of loyalty strengthened between him and Sophia as his own systems reacted to something she did - namely the way she defeated the nanobot monster through great compassion and understanding. Due to an unknown subroutine triggering some memory unlocks, Twinkle found himself directly addressing Sophia as the princess of the Valerian Empire and a descendant of the Empress Minerva. Twinkle revealed himself to be a virtual life form known as a lux. In ancient times, his function was to be a servant and curator of wisdom to the royal Valerian families, and his own programming had deemed her worthy as a herald of the empire. Sophia's technokinesis was a genetic trait of being related to the empress, but it was only through her courageous actions that she awakened as a true member of the bloodline.

Aftermath

Joshua's colleagues delivered the unconscious bodies of the cultists to Federation police where they would be questioned. Afterwards, the group had found themselves famished and unanimously decided to go to Mimi's Milkshakes to celebrate their victory. Mimi was more than happy to oblige where they would all indulge on milkshakes and pancakes.

Though Kristoph enjoyed the company of his friends at Mimi's Milkshakes, in truth, he still felt somewhat isolated. While his avatar had taste receptors, he could not actually derive nourishment and feel satiated afterwards. Since he had been living off of tasteless food synthesizers the whole time, Kristoph wondered if it was time to look for a way to come to Yeddo in person. He knew the taste receptors in his avatar could not replace the experience of actually going out to eat.

As they ate, all of them had come to the realization that they were back to square one since they had also abandoned the idea of selling Twinkle off for obvious reasons. However, it wasn't all entirely for naught. Their actions in the Condemned Zone began to circulate the news, thanks to the work of a journalist by the name of Emily Reeds who had reported on the story. Hearing of this, the Federation awarded a modest bounty to Sophia and the others as a reward for flushing out the Cult of Kronos and disrupting an illegal cybernephrine distribution and virtual life form poaching operation. The money was enough to help Mimi keep her business afloat a little while longer and even enough for Sophia and the group to buy a few nice things for themselves. Sophia, Angela, Kristoph, Joshua and Twinkle all wondered if this was something they ought to do again or if it was just a one-time thing. Whatever the case, they were considered local heroes now.

Before they all parted ways for the night, Sophia had asked Mimi why she had never wondered about her own heritage. Mimi had once believed that the past was the past, and that it was one's own responsibility to make their own destinies. Despite having technokinesis herself, Mimi always had the passion of starting her own restaurant, so she naturally was not as interested in adhering to an esoteric family legacy. But if Sophia's passion was all about using her powers to help others, Mimi encouraged her to pursue them and to allow herself to embrace the past, present and future.