Cadmus Ridge, Europa
The Guardian approaches and enters the Bray Exoscience Lab.
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Osiris: It is a new day, Young Wolf.
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Ana Bray: Time to snag another submind fragment, Guardian. Get in and out before they even know what's hit 'em.
The Guardian heads deeper into the facility.
Ana Bray: Sub-level doors opening now.
The Guardian fights alongside BrayTech Security Frames in the facility. The BrayTech Security System gives an alert.
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BrayTech Security System: Security breached. Contact. Contact.
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BrayTech Security System: Position compromised. Protect Bray asset!
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BrayTech Security System: Ammunition Reserves: 7%.
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BrayTech Security System: Thermopylae Protocol: Progressive.
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BrayTech Security System: Creation Demolition Sequence: EXCISION - CHARGE PRIMED.
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When a BrayTech Security Frame is defeated
BrayTech Security System: Frame Status: Calamitous!
The Guardian proceeds down a chute toward the vault.
Yggdrasil Stack, Europa
Ana Bray: Submind vault's locked down tight, but the maintenance shafts are just big enough to fit you and all that armor. Happy crawling!
Osiris: I never knew there was a submind housed in Europa. Neither did the Vanguard's archives. Which submind is this?
Ana Bray: I had the same question. Turns out, it's not really a submind—not in the traditional sense. It's more like a foundational AI framework they all use.
The Guardian destroys Hive wards on the Mindlab doors.
Mindlab: Submind Kernel, Europa
Ana Bray: That is one big, shrieky eye. Guardian, get gouging.
The Guardian battles and defeats Warwatcher, Eye of Xivu Arath.
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Ana Bray: So much on Europa could have helped during the Dark Age. Why hide all this away instead of using our legacy to better humanity?
Clovis Bray AI: Humanity's betterment is a vehicle, an indirect consequence of parallel actions. It advances in the shadow of individuals. My shadow.
Ana Bray: It really is all about you.
Clovis Bray AI: We are all propelled by selfishness. Even you, even now. It is why you came to me.
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Clovis Bray AI: Once the Warmind's network control has been re-established, we will see the extent of the damage to my empire.
Ana Bray: I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It's bad. Your name's rubbed off most of the signs!
Clovis Bray AI: Yes, very humorous. I've gathered the solar system is a war-torn ruin, despite all of you "Guardians." You aren't the first critic to foretell my doom. Yet here I am… and here you are.
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Clovis Bray AI: Anastasia, what drew you back to the Bray name after all these years? It's clear that your memory is… fragmented at best.
Ana Bray: I woke up attached to my badge. Got caught up chasing the promises of the Golden Age… before I learned about who you really were.
Clovis Bray AI: And now, you're taking on my life's work as your own. It seems you truly will always be a Bray.
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Ana Bray: For a long time, I thought being a Bray meant I was a pioneer… some kind of torchbearer for the future. I hoped digging into my past would show me how to do that. It's been more like exhuming a grave than excavating a relic.
Clovis Bray AI: Squeamish minds seldom produce anything of merit. They prattle on, wringing hands, while others change the course of humanity. Existence is entropic. In limited time, better to spend one's resources, lest they go to waste.
Ana Bray: Until you've spent it all.
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Clovis Bray AI: You left me down here for quite some time, Anastasia. Our disagreements never kept you distant before.
Ana Bray: The old me? Her world used to begin and end with you—in a terrarium, like some pet. But I've met you again with fresh eyes, and I won't live in one of your boxes.
Clovis Bray AI: That's all I ever wanted you to realize. Someone had to prepare you for what was coming, and keep you safe until you were ready.
Ana Bray: Is that supposed to sound convincing? You did it for the same reason you kept the Darkness for yourself. The only thing you love is control.
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Osiris: Well done. The sooner we finish here, the better. Saint has expressed that Europa, even in orbit, is dangerous. He awaits my return.
Ana Bray: That'll get better. He thought he'd lost you for a long time. I haven't seen him like that since you vanished into the Infinite Forest.
Clovis Bray AI: Is that the Exo? I could show you how to remove that memory—the pain. You could give him a better, blissful life.
Osiris: You are not permitted to speak of him. Remove yourself from this conversation.
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Ana Bray: Data link established and transferring. We'll get what we can and bug out.
Osiris: This process is painfully slow.
Ana Bray: Not everything's as fast as transmat. We're moving a digital tonne of data that was never meant to be moved like this.
Clovis Bray AI: There was a faster way, but someone crashed my orbital station into a moon. This moon, in fact.
Osiris: From what I'm told, your station was being uncooperative.
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Ana Bray: Some of these files have been accessed recently, by force. House Salvation is looking for something more than just tech.
Clovis Bray AI: There are foreign traces of a virus as well. This code pattern is reminiscent of biological encoding structures.
Osiris: Xivu Arath's words have found their way into the submind's closed network. She attempts to drive it to madness with her cryptoliths.
Clovis Bray AI: Then you will see those things destroyed! These are my creations, and theft will be met with extreme prejudice.
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Osiris: Guardian, Xivu Arath's oversight of House Salvation is troubling. Her Wrathborn will not be uprooted by strength alone.
Clovis Bray AI: No? Perhaps you just aren't strong enough.
Osiris: She commands a great deal of power, Clovis. Any attempt to strike directly at her would only add to that power.
Clovis Bray AI: Preposterous. Rituals, magic, and superstition. Even your Light can be quantified and controlled. These fairy tales don't scare me.
Osiris: You will learn soon enough.
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Ana Bray: You know, I've run sims on this before. I never got it to work right.
Osiris: Your grandfather seems confident he can rebuild Rasputin's core systems.
Ana Bray: Yeah, only… Red's not just code, Osiris. He developed… personhood. Autonomy. I don't want to take that from him.
Osiris: Rasputin drifts in limbo. But with this, the Warmind can find what he once was. Sometimes… that opportunity is all we can ask for.