by Dawn Chapman
Mech pilot - Rank 12
Human/Machine Interface - Rank 15
Shadow Awareness - Rank 11
Shuttle Operator - Rank 5
Deception - Rank 6
Sword Play - Rank 8
Vrolsh Coding Learned
Mech Merge - Rank 10
Animal Handling - Rank 2
Special Traits Awarded x 4 – Any extras here do not show on your Stat Sheet Totals.
Healer = Internal AI Chip X Class – Crystalline and Silver metal chip with integrated healer nanites led by Xe Aria.
Intelligence = Internal prototype AI Chip, inserted on 17th birthday, with consciousness of Hiroto.
Knowledge = direct from Xirob if he freely gives it. Extra skills and training available.
Shade Brain – One in a million, you managed to not only keep your memories, but you can also hide them. Your character sheet is elusive to even the strongest of will. UPGRADED - No one can penetrate your Shade now!
Spell - Active - Minor Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 2 and x 1 Mana per second.
Spell - Active - Medium Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 7 and x 10 Mana per second.
Spell - Active - Intensive Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 14 and x 100 Mana per second.
Spell – Active - Lightning Fury – Cost: 10 mana per second – Damage increased by 30%
I really wanted Intensive Healing though I didn’t have anywhere near enough mana. I assigned my ten points, three to Strength, Constitution and Intelligence. With just one to Dexterity. When I opened my eyes a moment later, I stared right into the most beautiful sight I could. The swell of Saskia’s ample cleavage enveloped me in warmth, even the sight of it wasn’t enough to keep me awake.
I felt a finger flick my nose, and a hand shot up to protect it with an “Ouch.”
“That was for ogling. You need to get up. We have to leave in a few days, and you need to level more.”
“What? Leave? Already?”
“Tyto doesn’t mess around. We got the opportunity now we’re a full team again. The job’s been sitting for a while, and there was no one to do it.”
I sat up, my head pounding.
We’re here, Hiroto said. You’ll need to take it easy. Your nites are working on all your systems, but we got Xe Aria back for you before they came in.
You went to rescue my lead nite?
Yeah, she did you a good thing not letting herself be found. Besides, they might have tracked back what you actually did.
Even though we have no clue how you actually managed to hack their system, Xirob said. No one’s done that before, not on any side of this world.
I… I wanted to tell them more about what I saw on the inside, the details, the minute parts to the world around them. Its code was beautiful, so intricate. Fragile beyond belief like the slightest thing would break it. That worried me a lot. If I did break it there were harsh consequences, so much was riding on the whole thing. I knew now it wasn’t a case of ever just shutting it down. Fuck. My task was impossible. I didn’t understand all of it or how to break it into words that would make them understand it. I swallowed and kept my mouth shut.
I slid out of the bed and realised I was naked—just when Saskia noticed too. She smiled, and her eyes roamed my body.
“I didn’t thank you for your gift,” she purred.
A while later as she slid out of my bed, and dressed. “That’s how you thank all the guys who gift you the incredible?”
She winked at me and went for the door. After slinging on my own clothes, I followed.
Saskia led me through the infirmary rooms and out into the main base. I had no idea where they resided, but it seemed to be the opposite side of where I’d been even with Rytin and his crew. I watched everyone else as we passed. Their respect for her was duly noted. But they glared at me. I wasn’t backing down, though. There were more than a few eyes that looked away as I tried to meet them—were they afraid of me too?
She looked at me. “Feeling like you’re on show?” I nodded.
“Yeah, why are they all acting like that?”
“You’ll see. Tyto’s their legend, and you just went from level zero to hero in their eyes in a few weeks. They’re jealous and want to ask all sorts of questions.”
“I…didn’t do that much?”
“You put on the show of a lifetime, Kyle. Taming the Traixic and then beating a merged mech? They have no idea how you did it, but they saw you. You gave them hope that their life here can be something if they train hard. They all watched you with Rytin and then Dylan. You never once backed down from a fight anywhere.”
I smiled. In that sense, she was right. I hadn’t backed down, and I never gave up.
On reaching their side of the base, I could see it was sectioned off from everyone else. Security here was tight, and they let her through just fine, giving me more than a few strange glares.
Tyto had his back to us when we entered the room. His two other men were there, and so was Dylan. I looked at him, and he grinned.
Tyto eyed Saskia, then glared at me. It was for show of course. But she saw it and lapped at the jealousy oozing from him as he said, “Get lost on the way?”
“He wasn’t awake. I had to wait,” she said simply.
I looked to them both and felt the instant tension. It was hard not to.
You could cut it with a pencil.
Dylan pointed to what Tyto had been looking at, and I saw a 3D set of schematics.
“We’re in for some fun!” Dylan rubbed his hands together, and I moved to get a better look.
Hiroto? I asked, looking it over and not seeing anything but a junker.
I can tell you what she isn’t, he said. It came with a lot of sighs. And I instantly worried she was worse than she looked.
What do you mean?
She needs a fair bit of work to get it to do anything.
Yeah, they gave him a ship, but it’s a bit of a wreck.
I didn’t like those words. “How much of a wreck is she?” I asked the room, disturbing Tyto and Saskia as they engaged in a deep kiss. This time it was his hands on her ass. The emotion that bubbled up disturbed me slightly. Jealousy.
She was your first, Kyle. But you’re both playing her. Just let using her be fun.
Hiroto was right. I tried to squash the jealousy inside me, and I met Tyto’s eyes with mine when he finally looked up, not feeling any more jealousy. But weirdly turned on?
Sorry, Hiroto said. That’s coming from me.
Oh? I guess I never thought about your sexuality.
It was then his embarrassment I felt. You think I should have said I didn’t have a preference.
No, you do . I just…well it feels a little weird, because I don’t bat that way.
I know. Just remember, I technically got dragged into screwing a woman, if you want weird, think on that.
I did, and guilt flooded through me. For now, though, I concentrated on the task at hand, trying not to think about sex at all. But my first time—as hot as it was—was playing havoc with my head.
I’ll try and turn down that emotion.
When the thoughts subsided some, I was glad Hiroto was in my head to work the system.
“Will take us a week or so to get her anything near being space- worthy. Her O2 units have degraded. Once they have new components in, they should start to seed fast, though.”
It wasn’t too bad then, but I wanted it to be much faster than it seemed it would be, looking in closer. All ships in games I’d played needed work. From collecting components to upgrade them to weapons for their defence. This looked nothing different from any of those style games.
I would need to and wanted to learn more about how they operated. How things could go wrong with them. What would break first. I was already told that respawn stations weren’t close by when you were in space. So that was a big problem. We couldn’t go out there without risking us if she wasn’t up to spec. So that was paramount.
“So.” I grinned. “Better work out what we need to buy then.”
“Or steal.” Saskia winked at me.
What? I almost did a double take, but Hiroto reined in my controls there. Thanks, I whispered to him.
Don’t want you to do anything wrong, but if we have to get off here, this is the first chance we know we have. Don’t blow it.
You didn’t tell me that an hour ago when Saskia came on to me.
He coughed. It might have been a little selfish. Of us, Xirob said.
She’s fucking hot. There was no way I was putting you off hitting that, Hiroto replied.
I felt the heat rise up my neck then and turned back to the board. “Okay, what do we have to steal to get off this rock?”
Tyto came up behind me and clapped me on the shoulder, Saskia attached to his other side. Like the loved-up woman we all knew she wasn’t. “That’s what I like to hear!”
Tyto pointed to the engines, twin sails that would open up when we were out in space and away from gravity. I knew what they were for, catching the solar winds to aid in propulsion. The left sail was damaged and needed components to fix the slats. It didn’t look that hard. But as I looked over the schematics, I noticed more and more things that were wrong. It was going to be expensive to get this levelled up enough to take out into space.
“How many do we need to fly her?”
“Just the six of us. It’s a small cruiser. We don’t need anyone else.”
“And they’re all sure of the tech, the controls?” I asked, looking to the two jocks that were obviously still admiring Tyto’s hand on Saskia’s ass.
“They don’t have a clue,” Tyto frowned.
I touched the screen, bringing up the med bay for them to see. We all knew there were no respawn units.
“Not good enough,” I said simply tapping the spot that said units missing. Widening my fingers, I zoomed in to show him. “You need people who can perform the basic essentials. They’re great in the mechs, but they need serious training in this baby.”
Get me some specifics on what they need, Xirob. You’re more in tune with this world than me. As Xirob and Hiroto did the research for me, I tapped the screen again and showed Tyto.
“All these systems need constant monitoring. Without them, we are dead, and with no on-board respawn unit, without a respawn point within a certain distance, we’re dead forever. Understand that?”
Tyto nodded. “What do they need to learn?”
I looked to Dylan. “That stall I bought the book from—you didn’t see what it was. If the other one is still there, we need it. You need to take the boys by the market and pick them up. There will be other manuals, much more than we have here, and they might cost, but if we have the funds—” I glanced to Saskia, and she nodded, “—then they’re first on our list of things we need to buy.”
“I can do that. We can head back out to Bo, too. If there’s something else we need, he can help. I have no doubts,” Dylan said.
“You know Bo?” Tyto asked.
Dylan grinned. “I might not be anywhere near your level,” he said. “But I’ve been here longer than you have, and I know all the backstreet dealers and underground stores.”
“Oh. I…” he looked to Saskia. “I’m sorry; we never even had you on our radar till you plucked Kyle out of the mess halls.”
Dylan lowered his head. “It’s okay. I didn’t want to be on anyone’s radar. That’s why I stayed out of it.”
Tyto turned back to his guys. “Off you go. Get the next train out of here, and do what you need to get those manuals, yeah?”
It was the way he said it that had me worried. I didn’t want anyone that we already knew at risk. I threw Dylan a glance, and he shook his head. “I’ll make sure they don’t do anything stupid. Don’t worry.”
I was glad he had my back. Now more than ever we didn’t need trouble.
Tyto stepped to the screen and flicked it over to something else, and I saw it.
“You need to formally accept the promotion to join the team,” Tyto said. “We could have had a ceremony after both your performances in the arena, but I felt like you wouldn’t want to be in the front row anymore. Take a look over it. Accept it. Then we can go further with all the other plans.”
I glanced at Dylan, and on his nod, I looked over the quest.
JOIN THE JACKALS
ACCEPT TO JOIN THE HOTTEST TEAM ON TOLSA! IF YOU DON’T, TYTO MIGHT KILL YOU. DON’T BE AFRAID, THOUGH, YOU ALREADY HACKED A MECH, AND HE’S ALREADY KILLED YOU ONCE!
“I need to go get the paperwork for this, you coming for a tour,” Tyto said.
I didn’t hesitate. To get into space now would be fantastic. To see the means to how I could do that. Up close. I knew I was grinning like a child in the biggest toy warehouse he’d ever seen.
“Work on the other goods. We’ll be back as soon as we can.” Tyto moved to Saskia.
I watched as he leaned in and kissed her again, and this time there was more than jealousy there. I didn’t want him to. Like it made my blood boil—that kind of reaction. I swallowed and waited for them to part before following Tyto out into the corridor. We seemed to walk for miles, and I felt a little off around him. I wasn’t sure how to broach any subject.
He pointed to a small shuttle, and I grinned, the awkwardness forgotten. From mech to ship. I was liking this game system more and more, even if I did need to learn everything. The skills involved here were really tech-heavy. I loved it.
Tyto strapped himself in, and I did the same, the shuttle taking off a few moments later.
“How was she?” he asked.
I looked at him. “Saskia?”
“Saskia. Obviously, she slept with you.”
I knew I grinned. “Oh, yeah.”
Tyto raised an eyebrow. “She likes to be in control.”
I knew he’d said that, and for me to take her as I did was as subtle a statement as I could have made. But I wasn’t going to tell him I’d had inside help.
The shuttle vibrated like crazy, and I held onto my straps, watching as it took us out of the area of the base that I knew and into the wilds.
We approached what looked to be a shipyard. I could see the outer wall that was protecting it. As we drew closer, several strands were shooting up into the space docking stations. I noticed little spots travelling up them. Possibly like lifts? This was the most excited I’d been in a long time, and I could see many, many things here that were mind-blowing.
Looking up as far and high as I could, I zoomed in with everything I had. Hiroto and Xirob were with me gazing into the stars. There were ships that were worth a lot more than the one that Tyto had acquired for this next job. I wondered how much they cost or how you could get one of those. But it seemed that they were way out of our price range. Even as rich as Saskia seemed to be. Why couldn’t we steal one if they were going to be used doing things like that anyway?
I was confused and had so many questions.
The closer we got, the more questions were coming. Then I saw the ship. Hiroto, that’s never gonna fly, right?
Oh, it will, but it’s not the best out here, that’s for sure. I could see exactly what she was. Space junk. I let out a sigh.
I turned to Tyto and asked, “If you’re not against stealing then why haven’t you gotten in here before today and made off with one of those ships?”
He laughed. “I thought you’d say that.” He pointed ahead of us to something I hadn’t noticed. There at the centre was a large silver pipe stretching way up into the skies. “That’s the main hub for all the ships. The AI system in here’s the main computer system that runs everything. You can’t hack it, and you can’t do anything with it.”
Can’t hack it, huh? I grinned inwardly.
“You didn’t see what I did with that mech, right?” Tyto shook his head as I continued. “But you know I got it without being a high enough level, or trained to use it.”
“You’re only fifteen. I don’t understand?”
He laughed. “How?”
“I’m going to hack their systems the same way that I did their mechs. The same way I brought down Chris.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know if I believe you.”
“I’ve no reason to lie. I expect their security to be stronger now, though. But you want off the planet, right?”
His eyes roamed back to the ship that we’d been assigned. “Yeah, I really do.”
“You will, if you do some of the things I ask of you. That rust bucket isn’t going to do anything for you apart from kill us all. We need something better, and we will get it.”
“We’ve worked damned hard to get where we are, and we have a reputation. I don’t want to blow that either. We’re not after a life of crime, not fully,” he said.
I knew that. I could see it in his face. “It will all be above board, and you won’t be at risk.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The plan had changed slightly, but I didn’t want the others to know about it all, so just as we had planned, I went along to our new ship. I wanted to get in as close as I could a few times without actually having them breathing down my neck. I had to use them as cover. They needed to learn all the traits and how to fly anyway. I’d upgrade their ship as much as I could, but I couldn’t cheat their learning curve. They had tests and spec to pass. I would have to do the same probably. So being in here now was great.
Tyto took us straight to the bridge. Tell me what you see, Hiroto.
It’s not as bad as you think, to be honest, it wouldn’t be hard to upgrade it on their own.
No, maybe not. But it would mean what we could do now to help upgrade is more important time-wise, and waiting-wise.
Yeah, there’s also no room for Saskia to bring her pet, and she wouldn’t be happy about giving her away after only just acquiring her.
