Chapter 175 - The cache (1/2)
”So, what happened?” asked Balthazar again as Lucius came to them.
”Nothing happened. Your next part would require us to be close to you to be of any significant help in case of a life-threatening danger,” replied Lucius.
”Why?” asked Robert. He was told that there would be someone looking over him, but they wouldn't come into contact unless necessary. Lucius himself told them that once he came to rescue them, it would signal the end of the trial when they started.
”There is a cache belonging to pirates ahead. It is dangerous and apparently underground. We will accompany you. The trial is still on. There is no change. We will be quite and shadowing you closely, recording the entire thing and will provide these recordings to the judges in our report. If you make any mistake that we deem dangerous. We will take action and that would be the end of your trial,” said Richard briefing them on the situation.
”That is all?! Nothing else?”
”You can decide to end the trial now. I don't mind taking you back to the ship. It is dangerous,” said Richard looking at the pair of them.
”Let us try. It isn't really that dangerous. Else, you wouldn't be giving us the choice now, right?” asked Balthazar to which Robert also nodded indicating that he also wanted to try it out.
”Yeah! We can't keep a look on you if you end up underground. We need to be there to be able to help you if you require it,” said Lucius. ”Now get going if you want to continue.”
Balthazar took lead as he had already found a few doors that would connect to the underground. There were four doors on the ground that blocked their path to the underground cache. Three of them were very large that they could be used for moving products and so on.
Such doors would usually be made in a way that they could only be opened from inside, else there is a danger of one being able to barge in with large numbers or use warframes. Due to that there is a chance of them having automated defences and guns with high damage ammunition. So, Balthazar wanted to avoid them.
Caches on planets usually have a small amount of maintenance staff and these staff are rotated periodically, else the staff would get bored and go mad staying in an isolated area for a long time. The best way for entering such places would be smaller doors used for change of personnel guarding and monitoring the place. Not only such places, maintenance entrances were always considered one of the best ways to enter an area. These doors are also frequently used by the maintenance staff to get out of the place and stretch their legs. They are usually just cloaked and hidden better than the other entrances and had lower defences.
The fourth door they found was beneath a rock and was cloaked by tech to look like a slab of wet ground covered with grass. It wouldn't be possible to determine it to be an entrance, unless there was a map of someone used some kind of tech to check the structure of the underground. Luckily, his suit was equipped with that kind of technology.
As he neared the place, he quickly searched for devices which were used to maintain the illusion over the door and broke them as there was a chance that there would be a trap or two at the door. As the illusion cleared, they found a red colored door made of some metal. It had a handle and a socket to put in a drive which would be used as a passkey. This kind of things were used when there is a chance of the personnel frequently changing or in situations where the person with access would occasionally send someone else on his behalf.
”Awesome! We need a passkey for this. I guess we return now?” asked Robert. He could see no way through without a passkey. Both he and Balthazar wore exploratory suits that were meant for exploring new planets and places not secure facilities. So, going through a door with a digital passkey required either explosives or cutting equipment or some tool to unlock the door, none of which they had.
”I agree. It is a lost cause,” said Balthazar. He only thought about cutting equipment as a solution. Using explosives will have the risk of collapsing the tunnel and a tool for opening the door. Even equipment which could cut through the door would take quite some time which they didn't have. It was already getting dark again and thus, Balthazar also believed it was a waste of time to pursue it any longer.
”Yeah, about this. This was the second reason that we came. There would be more obstacles that were more technical and as we go ahead. It was already discussed with the judges. They are fine with it as long as we make a recording of everything that happens. We will be accompanying you from now on,” said Lucius.
”Ok. Please,” said Balthazar as he moved away from the door giving space for Lucius and Richard to open it. Lucius went to the door and pulled out a small device which he plugged in to the door and a couple of minutes later, a small click sounded as the door opened up.
”Keep moving. You have about 7 hours left. Once, the time is up, we retreat quickly,” said Lucius.
”So, how come we are with a planet like this? Did you guys actually prepare a entire bunker just for this trial? Doesn't it seem a bit too much?” asked Balthazar. He had been having doubts on it since the start of the trial and he finally got a chance to ask them. He knew that they would have ignored his question if he asked them over the communication device, but now with them being right beside him, it would be hard for them to ignore his inquiries.
”I already told you before, didn't I?” said Lucius. ”This is just because we wanted to take extra precautions for the trial and the Price family offered this to us.”