“You’re simply letting me have this?” she asked with astonishment. “Is this even on the market?”
“Not yet, but I plan to have it be,” Laurie revealed. “This Academy and my bank account can only gain a limited amount of money from the contracts and sponsors, so some of the devices I make in my free time are put on the market to bolster both. I’ve had time to have it trialed in-house, but fieldwork is a different story.” The professor parted his hands and glanced at Cyra. “As Cyra was…observant enough to notice, Kaiden and I had a difficult discussion. We aren’t on the best terms right now.” He shrugged. “I don’t think he will pay me another visit before you leave to do whatever it is you are about to do, but I want to help, even in a small way.”
Chiyo nodded while she closed the box. “Thank you, Professor, it will be a great help.” She bowed and turned to leave. “As for what happened between you and Kaiden…” The other two perked up. “I would have to say, unless you were responsible for killing one of his family members or something like that, I don’t think he will hold it against you for long.”
“Do you think so?” Laurie sighed and a small smile formed. “I can promise I did no such thing, even if it still made me feel horrible. So you think he won’t hold it against me?”
“Not at all,” she assured him. “He’ll make you sweat for a while, but it’s not his way to give you the cold shoulder.” She approached the door, which slid open. “He’s more direct. If he was truly angry at you, I think he would simply kill you.”
Just before the doors closed, she could hear the professor admit, “To be honest, she’s not wrong.”
Chiyo waited at the fountain where the rising moon bathed the water in a silvery sheen. She looked at the device she had retrieved from Laurie and remembered his words.
Feet clicking against the pavement snapped her out of her memories. She looked up as Kaiden approached with Genos and three others.
“Kaiden?” she called.
“Hey, Chi. Thanks for waiting. I had to make some adjustments to the team.”
“Hello, friend Chiyo.” Genos ran up to the infiltrator and took her hand. “Kaiden told kin Jaxon and me that you required help in an important task. We are here to assist in any way we can.”
She blinked in surprise at his uncharacteristically loud outburst. “Thank you so much, Genos.” The rest of the group greeted her quietly. “And to all of you as well, Jaxon, Flynn, and…Indre?”
“He-llo!” the girl said cheerfully. “It’s nice to see you again, Chiyo. It’s been a while.”
“About a month since the last time we trained together in the Animus.” She nodded.
“Yeah. I’m surprised we don’t see much of each other in the dorms,” she said and tapped her cheek thoughtfully. “I was worried I had offended you in some way and you were avoiding me.”
“No, not at all. I spend most of my time in the library and working with Cyra, so I have rather late hours.” She moved away from Genos and walked up to her. “Even despite all that, thank you for helping me.”
Indre smiled and took her hand. “Of course. Techies gotta look out for each other, right?” She looked at Kaiden. “But to be honest, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m helping with in the first place.”
The infiltrator looked at him and he shrugged in response. “I told them what we talked about, but since we still don’t know what we’ll do after Vox, I could only guess.”
“I see.” She twirled a strand of her hair, her eyes closed in thought. “We are going against some kind of syndicate or group that has made moves to control various companies and now aims for the Mirai zaibatsu. Did Kaiden tell you why this concerns me?”
His eye twitched when he realized he might have been a little too free with that information.
“Realizing that you might have overstepped your bounds a bit, huh?” Chief asked.
“You couldn’t have said something earlier?” Kaiden asked under his breath.
“Honestly, she didn’t mention anything about not telling others, so any system or artificial personality warning that would have advised me to warn you didn’t go off. I’ve only now reached the same realization you have.”
“You’re part of me now, right? Learn to read the situation.”
“Think about what material I have to base that on,” the EI retorted.
“Didn’t take you long to go back to normal. No leftover guilt?”
“No crying over spilled brain matter,” Chief snarked. “No, seriously, I am sorry, but hey, we’re still partners, and I gotta make sure you learn from your mistakes, right?”
“Oh, I’m learnin’ all right.” He huffed but tried to keep a straight face.
“Yeah, he did. Was that bad?” Flynn asked, folded his arms, and leaned against a streetlamp. “It sounds like a Kaiden move.”
“I’m sure he simply wanted to inform us of all the pertinent information,” Jaxon said quietly.
Chiyo shook her head and sighed. “I know. I’m not angry. I merely felt it would have been better for me to inform you all.”
“Yeah, that’s my bad,” Kaiden agreed and grimaced. “I didn’t think it through, sorry.”
“I said it’s fine, Kaiden,” she promised with a wave of her hand. “It saves time actually. Were you able to secure transport?”
Kaiden nodded. “It’ll be ready to go tomorrow morning at six.”
“Oh, good, an early morning. I’ll charge extra for that,” Flynn stated.
“You’re a marksman. Don’t you stay up for hours waiting for your mark?” The ace hissed in irritation.
He gave a thumbs-up. “On occasion, and it’s skills like those that let me charge extra.”
“You don’t get tips in SWAT, dumbass,” he grumbled.
“I’m sure Kaiden will include all the effort you put in for the final fee,” Chiyo assured him.
“You're taking his side on this?” he yelped.
“It would appear that we have a plan for the first stage so far, correct?” Jaxon asked briskly and restored order. Chiyo nodded. The Tsuna returned the nod and folded his hands behind him. “Then I suggest we turn in so we can depart early. Shall we meet at the carriers?”
“Actually, my contact will meet us with the ship off the coast behind the island,” Kaiden said and pointed to the south. “He wants to verify the pilot before we take off.”
“I shall make myself as presentable as possible,” Genos vowed.
“I think he’s looking to grill you on specifics but that couldn’t hurt.”
“All right, it seems everything is set.” Flynn pushed himself off the lamppost.
“Oh, do we have a name for this mission?” Indre asked.
Kaiden looked at Chiyo and shrugged. “I mean…no? This isn’t an official mission or anything so there’s no need to go through the all the annoying—”
“But it’s fun!” she protested.
“It could add some flair,” the marksman interjected. “But it wasn’t like the merc gig we did a few months back had a mission name either.”
“I suppose, for the sake of familiarity, we could call it something simple,” Jaxon conceded.
“You're into the idea too, Jax?” Kaiden asked.
“Indre seems to enjoy the idea,” the Tsuna pointed out. “It doesn’t seem like such a big thing, and team morale is important.”
“Fine, fine.” He sighed and glanced at Chiyo. “I guess since this all started with Chiyo’s findings, and we’ll be helping her old man, how about Operation Infiltration?”
She looked at him with surprise before it turned to amusement. “I suppose that is basic,” she said with a small smile.
“That works for me,” Indre said happily. “It makes it sound official.”
“I guess it’s better than Operation Fire Cobra Claw or something silly like that,” Flynn admitted.
“If that is all agreed, I suggest we head to bed and be ready to go early in the morning,” Jaxon stated.
“
We shall be ready, Kin,” Genos promised. “For the sake of friend Chiyo.”
“It’s cool to get to go on another mission,” Indre added. “Especially since I can put the training I’ve had here to use this time.”
“And you can actually prepare a little as well,” Flynn noted.
Chiyo looked at the group. “Thank you, all of you.”
“We’ll get this done in no time and help you protect your pops,” Kaiden said with a smile. “But I’m sure you weren’t worried about that, right?”
She turned to look at him. “It would be foolish not to think of the potential complications and dangers as an infiltrator, and inconsiderate as a friend.” She returned the smile. “But I was never worried about failing. I know who my friends are and what they can do.”
Chapter Fifteen
Early the next morning, most of the group had arrived at their designated meeting place. Flynn yawned and leaned against one of the large trees in the forest. He glanced at Indre who appeared to be playing with something on the ground. “Are you doing some last minute modding over there?”
“Hmm? No, I found this.” She turned and gestured to something and the marksman flinched.
“What the hell is that?” he yelped and stared at the container in her hand, which contained a grey insect with a long spike on the front.
“It appears to be an assassin bug,” Genos interjected and crouched to look into the receptacle. “A rather rare specimen for the area, correct?”
“Yeah. I could probably get a few credits from a collector.” Indre nodded and put the container away. “I’m kinda surprised you recognized it, Genos. Have you been studying bugs?”
He nodded as he straightened and looked around the forest. “I find them interesting. We don’t have anything that is an equivalent on Abisalo.”
“There is that, but also the fact that they were a potential source of nutrients for us,” Jaxon added.
“Really? It seems risky,” she said thoughtfully. “We eat insects too, but they are natural to our planet.”
“So are lobsters and crabs, but we can consume them fine,” Genos pointed out.
She nodded. “Good point—oh! Speaking of cute things, do you wanna see the drones I’m bringing along?” She removed two circular drones from her bag.
“Those look like flying basketballs,” Kaiden said as he and Chiyo entered the clearing. “Howdy.”
“Good morning, friends,” Genos responded cheerfully.
“Humph.” Indre grunted and stowed the droids with puckered lips.
Flynn walked up to the duo and offered a handshake. “Good to see ya. It took you long enough to get here.”
The ace took the marksman’s hand “Sorry. We lost track of time getting the final preparations in order.”
“As long as you weren’t lazing about, I can’t give you too much trouble.” He chuckled. “So, when is Julio arriving? I want to see what rifle he has ready for me.”
“He should be here any—” The air swirled and buffeted above them. Kaiden looked up and smiled. “Good timing.”
“I didn’t even hear it fly in,” Jaxon shouted in surprise as the dropship descended gently and opened the landing gear seconds before it touched the ground.
“That’s a nice ship.” Indre whistled. “It looks like an Atmosphere Sail model.”
“That’s the base, but Julio has upgraded it over the last four years,” Kaiden said.
“We used it during our previous operation. It will be perfect for this one as well.” Chiyo placed a hand on his shoulder as she walked past. “Thank you for convincing him to let us use it again.”
“Well, that all depends on Genos now, really.” He sighed heavily and she froze momentarily. “He doesn’t trust me to fly it for a prolonged period of time.”
“I see.” She looked at the Tsuna mechanist and shrugged. “It should be fine, then. He is both knowledgeable in aircraft and skilled as a pilot.”
“I agree, but it depends on whether Julio agrees,” Kaiden warned as the side door of the ship opened and a track unfolded from the ship door to the ground. The man in question stepped into view, dressed in a blue button-down shirt, white pants, and an ivory Panama hat.
“Hello and good morning, ladies and gents.” He looked around. “I recognize you all from that night in the bar, so Kaiden hasn’t scared you off yet. That’s good.”
“Nice to see you here so punctually, Julio.” The ace shook his hand. “You’re dressed kind of casual to be driving around in a stealth craft, aren’t ya?”
He shrugged. “I’ve shuttered the bar for a while. I’ll use this as an excuse for an overdue vacation. As soon as we’re done here, I’ll take the hyperloop to LA.”
“It’s good to know you’ll catch sun while we fight for our lives,” Flynn quipped.
“Are you really gonna grumble about something like that after nearly three years at Nexus?” Julio asked with a lazy smile. “You know that’ll be your life for the foreseeable future, right?”
“Yeah, but some sympathy would be nice,” the marksman retorted playfully and made his way to the ship. “Now, let’s see what you got in there for—huh?” His march was stopped when the other man held a hand up.
“I can promise you I have the goods. I wouldn’t have lived this long by being cheap with my clients—in both occupations.” He lowered his hand and looked around, then pointed two fingers at Genos and Jaxon. “Let me speak to the pilot here. Judging from what Kaiden hinted, my guess would be it’s one of you two gentlemen?”
Genos nodded and approached him. “Indeed, sir. I am Genos Aronnax, Master Engineer with four points in aircraft piloting and two for spacecraft.”
“That’s rather impressive, but piloting isn’t even your main class, is it?” Julio inquired and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“I am a mechanist, actually, although I have divided my studies into a number of fields to be as useful to my friends and future teammates as possible.”
Julio nodded and slipped his hands into his pockets. “That’s admirable. I was something of an engineer in my younger days. It’s a fairly thankless skillset, though. It wasn’t a choice between being a master or jack of all trades. You had to be both to get noticed.”
Genos nodded in return and peered over the dealer’s shoulder at the ship. “Speaking of which, elder Julio—”
“Elder?” He glanced at Kaiden who held up a hand to dissuade him from protest.
“It’s respectful, trust me.”
“Indeed, I hope I can address you as friend before long,” the Tsuna added before he pointed behind him to the underside of the ship. “However, I wished to ask if that was the ship’s balance drive?”
The man looked behind him. “Indeed it is. Nice, huh?”
“Quite nice, yes. It looks like considerable work has been put into it, so I wondered why it is deactivated.”
The group looked at the device with shared confusion. “Deactivated? That’s because the ship is powered down isn’t it?” Flynn offered.
Genos folded his hands behind him. “When a ship powers down, most devices will normally do so with it. But a drive like that will actually remain on, albeit in a power-saving mode. Starting it from a completely deactivated state will require more prep time before takeoff and readjustments after that. I would have assumed that it was some kind of mod or additional power core attachment that would allow it to completely power down for some other reason, but it deactivated before the rest of the ship and immediately before landing. ”
Julio blinked a few times in surprise before he grinned, then laughed and withdrew a chip from his pants pocket. “Well done, Genos. I had actually planned to make it be part of the test for you to look the ship over to see if anything was off, but you saw it even before I could ask.”
“Does that mean he’s worthy or something?” Kaiden asked.
“It means he knows his stuff, at least the basics,” The dealer handed Genos the chip. “Let’s take a deeper look. We�
�ll go to the cockpit and go over the pilot’s chair.”
“Can we go onboard as well?” Chiyo asked.
He turned and shrugged. “I guess I can’t say no. I have a good feeling about this pilot. That’s no surprise, really. The Tsuna were spacefaring before we were.” He clapped the mechanist on the back. “I have cases of equipment in the bay for all of you—part of the deal. You guys go through them while Genos and I have a closer look at my pride and joy.”
“Awesome. Let’s head on, Indre,” Flynn shouted and raced past Julio and onto the ship. She followed quickly.
Jaxon walked up beside Genos. “I’ll see you after you’re done, kin. Make sure to go over everything in detail.”
“Of course. That is how I do everything,” Genos promised. “I’m sure you’re about to do the same. You seem as excited as friend Flynn.”
The Tsuna ace stiffened and didn’t reply as he went up the track into the ship.
“That’s his version of excitement?” Kaiden asked as Chiyo bowed to Julio and boarded the ship herself.
“You couldn’t tell?” Genos asked and tapped his infuser.
“He’s…difficult to read, even after all this time,” he admitted.
The mechanist nodded. “I suppose I can see that.”
“You made a good choice, Kaiden,” Julio stated and hung his other hand over the ace’s shoulder. “Maybe my standards have lowered with all the gunheads I’ve dealt with in the last few years who don’t appreciate a good ship, but I like this engineer’s potential.”
“You are rather happy. Are you drunk this early in the morning?” he snarked as the three entered the ship.
“Not yet. I’ll make a start on that as soon as I step foot onto the hyperloop. Do you really think I’d fly my baby if I had so much as an allergy headache, much less if I was drunk?”
Kaiden had to relent. The man made a good point. “So we have the ship. Where’s this package you wanted me to take and who will receive it?”
“It’s in the bay with the equipment. I collected your stuff from that armory you had it stored at and took the initiative to restock your explosives and make some fixes, free of charge.”
Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Page 73
