Moynahan stared at the group, looking at each member of the crew in turn. “You three survived the crash and killed how many enemy soldiers?”
“Three,” Gideon said.
She nodded. “Glad to hear it, because from this moment on you all report to me. Until you’re off this rock you’re under my direct command and I’ll need you to level up as quickly as you can because we’ve got a lot of shit about to rain down upon us and without you three we won’t survive.”
The Commander tapped a keypad on her desk and a screen behind her showed an image of some kind of machine with polished copper coils on top.
“This is our primary generator. It’s an hour away from packing in and if we can get a replacement here before it dies our main shield will drop and we’ll have no defense against the enemy. Given that there’s a river a shit about to rain down on us, this is our top priority.”
She flicked her wrist, and a digital display appeared on Gideon’s HUD showing a countdown clock.
59:01
A moment later new mission alert popped up on Gideon’s HUD, along with Mia’s and Red’s.
NEW MISSION: Pursuit of Power
Acquire the portable generator from the Lunar Station storage facility and deliver it to Commander Moynahan.
REWARD: 10 Enhancement Points
“Your first priority is securing that generator and bringing it back here before the timer runs out. Preferably long before. It’s a portable unit so one of you should be able to carry it, but the others will need to keep you safe while you get your ass back here.”
She looked at each of them in turn.
“Given amount of activity out there and the fact that you apparently managed to find a Stalker inside the damned building, I’d suggest all three of you go.”
Moynahan walked over to Red, looking him up and down like a farmer inspecting cattle.
“How advanced are you? In the system I mean? I know you were on your way to Artemis when we called you back, so you won’t have had much opportunity to develop, but where are you at?”
Red opened his mouth, but the turtle spoke before he had a chance to say anything.
“While entering the Ministry armed forces at Specialist level, they are all technically Novices. They have all acquired some basic offensive skills and Mia here has some talent with healing. They have all been assigned enhancement points but haven’t had the opportunity to spend them as yet. In terms of weaponry, they have some basic mundane firearms, daggers, a few throwing knives, and of course Doinkmaster’s ridiculous sword.”
The Commander frowned, turning to face Red.
“Let me guess. Doinkmaster?”
He stuck out his chest, grinning from ear to ear. “Technically, Doinkmaster Supreme.”
“We call him Red,” Mia quickly added.
Moynahan rolled her eyes. “You can call him whatever you like, as long as he get’s the job done.” She turned to face the turtle. “So, they’re next to useless then?”
“Not useless,” Bullseye said. “They have killed three Stalkers thus far and shown at least some ability to work as a cohesive unit. Only Gideon can etherically enhance his fighting however, until the others are fixed.”
The commander looked over at Book and he fumbled for a response.
“They, ah need to…ah…”
Gideon stepped forward. “They’re not plugged into the Artemis System yet.” He raised Bullseye in his right hand. “I’ve got an older AI which means he was able to adapt my echo to this environment. If you want all of us to be able to fight properly, Mia and Red need to speak with…”
He turned to book.
“Chief Technician Maddox,” Book said.
“Yeah, Maddox,” Gideon confirmed. “Mia and Red need their echoes sorted and then maybe we’ll have a better chance of getting this done in once piece.”
The commander nodded.
“Fine, see Maddox, but if it’s going to take any more than five minutes to fix you up, leave her with the problem and go get my damned generator.”
She pointed a finger at Gideon. “Five minutes and not a second later, or I’ll hold you responsible. And if that generator isn’t back here before that timer’s up, I’ll nail your ass to the wall.”
He was about to ask why she’d singled him out, but Moynahan continued, turning to walk back behind her desk and clearly already moving on from the conversation.
“Book, take them to the armory first and get them some new combat gear. If you’re lucky their might be a few Mark two kits lying around, but if not just give them the Mark ones. Once they’re done with Maddox take them to the cafeteria.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Yes, Commander,” Book said, turning on his heels and motioning toward the doorway.
57:15
Gideon, Mia, and Red followed him out of the room, down the metal stairs and across the platform.
“Okay,” Mia said, almost walking into Gideon’s back as they headed out of the large chamber. “It looks like we can assign enhancement points now.”
“Shit, really?!” Red blurted, stopping dead and staring directly ahead as he examined his own stats.
Gideon followed their lead, opening up his Core Attributes and noting that he had eight points to spend.
Constitution: 1
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Intelligence: 1
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 1
Etheric Aptitude: 0
“May I suggest Agility and Constitution as your primary areas to improve,” Bullseye said. “Considering that you will immediately be heading into danger, a little more health would be advisable, and Agility should be your primary stat given your class.
Gideon grinned. “Yeah, thanks for that champ, but I’ve already decided where to put the points.”
He assigned one point to Constitution, two to Strength, and the remaining five points in Agility.
Constitution: 2
Strength: 3
Agility: 6
Intelligence: 1
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 1
Etheric Aptitude: 0
“Why Strength?” Bullseye asked.
Gideon shrugged, locking in the stats and closing down the display. “I figure a little more power couldn’t hurt, particularly considering all the enemies so far have been heavily armored. If I can’t hit them in just the right spot the extra strength might help me force a blade through.”
The turtle nodded.
As they moved off, Gideon reflected that things were once more moving in a different direction to what he’d anticipated. As a ranged archer, he’d prioritize Agility and potentially even Intelligence if he intended to use etheric enhancements and spells with his bow attacks. Given that he was being forced into melee style combat, the additional strength seemed like a good idea, but he held back from putting too much into the stat, in case the situation changed.
“How about you, Red?” Gideon said. “Where did you spend your points?”
“Strength baby!” Red barked, flexing his biceps. “Strength and Constitution all the way!”
Gideon smiled at that. “So, you’re going full tank then?”
“Of course. Hit shit hard! That’s my motto.”
Mia shook her head. “How can you have a motto? You know almost nothing about any of this. For God’s sake you never even played video games!”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I don’t know what a tank is. Just call me Doinkmaster the Barbarian!”
Mia moved to reply but thought better of it, shaking her head.
“What did you go with?” Gideon asked the healer.
“Mainly Intelligence and Wisdom, plus a little Constitution. I was tempted to start tithing into Etheric Aptitude but given the situation we’re in I’ll probably hold off on that.”
Red frowned, scratching his arm.
“What do you mean tithing?”
Gideon and Mia grinned at one another. “It’s a common practice with hunters,” Mia said. “Every time you get a stack of enhancement points, you drop one point into Etheric Aptitude, kind of like a tax, or savings. Over time it slowly adds up, but you don’t notice much of a hit to the rest of your stats. Whereas, if you wait for a while and dump a whole mess of points into Etheric Aptitude it can really screw you up.”
Red frowned, clearly missing something.
“You’re wondering what Etheric Aptitude is, aren’t you?” Gideon asked.
Mia chuckled. “Our AI isn’t giving us much at the moment. She was chatty enough when we first woke up, but since then she hasn’t said much. None of the normal beginner information.”
Bullseye snorted. “Hah! So, who’s defective now?!”
“Etheric Aptitude,” Gideon said, ignoring the turtle’s outburst, “effects how efficient you are at using the ether. The higher your level the further ether will go.”
“So, if I’ve got ten ether to spend by my Etheric Aptitude is maxed out,” Red confirmed, “it’ll go a hell of a lot further than if I’ve got nothing in Aptitude.”
“Yeah, exactly. But, on the flip side, every point you put into it you’re taking from something else, like Constitution or Strength. It means you have to sacrifice something, but the benefit is that you can be much more efficient when using ether. It’s super important for late game stuff.”
“Late game?” Red barked.
“Sorry, I mean when you get higher up in the Hunt. There are a bunch of apex monsters on Artemis that you just can’t kill without using etherically enhanced skills. Without at least some points in Etheric Aptitude you’re never going to be able to harvest enough ether to do any real damage.”
“Yeah, but that might not be important here,” Red reasoned. “We’re not fighting apex monsters are we?”
“Depends on your perspective,” Mia interjected. “These aliens clearly use ether, and we can harvest it from them. Or we will be able to once we get properly hooked up to the Artemis System. Maybe it’s exactly the same principle but we’re just fighting aliens instead of monsters?”
They followed Book through the station, drawing occasional looks and whispered words from Ministry personnel nearby. Gideon tried to get a little more information out of the communications officer.
“The Commander mentioned that something was coming,” he said. “Any ideas what it is?”
“A river of shit!” Red offered.
Book turned right, heading into an adjacent corridor.
“We’re not exactly sure,” he replied. “Other than a large number of Stalkers, it’s not clear what else is coming. But we’ve picked up a sizable etheric signal coming this way. That could mean one of the larger enemies or perhaps a weapon of some sort. We’ve got our best intelligence operatives trying to decipher the signals and cross reference with the data the Collective sent us.”
“Curious,” Bullseye chirped. “You do not count yourself among this station’s best intelligence operatives?”
Gideon couldn't tell whether the AI was being purposefully insulting or if Bullseye was genuinely curious. Either way, Book responded with his usual calm.
“I run coms for the station, but data intelligence and etheric analysis are specialist fields. We’re lucky that we had quite a few intelligence techs at the station when the Collective hit us. They were here checking on a system glitch.”
“Glitch?” Gideon asked. “Like what?”
Red laughed. “Something to do with an outdated AI tutor, wasn’t it?”
Book shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I’m not sure.”
He stopped walking pointing to a pair of double doors with glass panels in them.
“This is the cafeteria. Maddox is just through the door to our left, but that’s where you’re gonna need to go to get the generator. There’s a barricaded door on the other side and six soldiers in there. We’ll need to open a hole for you to get through.”
He walked through the door to the left side and into a medium-sized room with a series of disassembled machines and computer components scattered all over the floor. A figure was leaning down behind a large, oddly shaped object with thousands of wires poking out on all sides. Gideon could only see strands of stray white hair poking out from behind the device, as if a Muppet was standing behind it.
“You bring me that solder, Jim?” a female voice called out.
“Chief Maddox,” Book said. “I’ve brought you the three echoes we picked up from the crashed transit ship.”
A face peered out from behind the strange device, thick glasses showing beady eyes while shocks of white hair sprung from a head only partially bound by a bright blue hairband. Maddox looked Gideon and the others up and down as Book continued.
“There’s an issue with their AI tutor. Apparently she can’t fully integrate their echoes into the Artemis System.”
Maddox snorted. “Well, of course they can’t. We’re not on Artemis, are we. The System is set up to work with the latent etheric baseline on that planet, not to function here in our solar system. Elysia wouldn’t know what the hell to do in this environment.”
“Because she is a charlatan!” Bullseye blurted. “A stale intelligence with no ability to think beyond her programing. An emotionless hussy with all the warmth of a frozen lake!”
Maddox to lean forward, squinting. She looked from the turtle to Gideon, her smile broadening.
“Well pickle my privates and call me Pete! How the hell are ya, Bullseye?”
