Carrying additional inspection tasks, the four Adaptive Combat Cores regrouped at the Maintenance Center.
The four combat cores split into pairs, heading for the Starport's Intelligence Core and the city's Central Control Core respectively.
Unlike the Imperium's troops, who searched Hulks from place to place,
the Men of Iron had a more direct method.
Using the sensor devices already connected to the network, Iax could trace the flow of data.
Beneath the entrance to this Starport lay an independent data relay station. If there was a separate Men of Iron Intelligence Core here, that relay station was its most likely location.
The other pair would bypass the folded, concealed region and head straight to the city center to pay its Central Intelligence hub a physical "visit."
With the new orders issued, the four Adaptive Combat Cores quickly set to work.
A plasma beam blasted open the warehouse doors behind the Maintenance Center.
The city's interior appeared before Iax's eyes for the first time.
Hundreds of large hover transports bearing the Federation Research Institute's insignia were parked in honeycomb-like vertical unloading bays on either side.
All kinds of broken metal debris littered the ground.
Several hover vehicles had crashed to the ground, becoming heaps of twisted scrap.
Strange, black, translucent shadows moved around nearby as though they were alive.
The broad streets were empty, with another tier of metal-built Artificial Continent shelves overhead.
This was a special Federation city, after all, unlike the ordinary cities described in the records.
No vehicles operated in the air. The city lay silent in the warped light of the Warp, steeped in an eerie atmosphere.
There was no greenery along the broad roads. Instead, holographic screens lined both sides, flickering constantly as they displayed red warning messages on an endless loop.
Two combat cores reshaped