WTF.
He motioned me through and gave me a reasonably heavy shove as I went through. Not expecting it, I almost ended up sprawling on my face, but I managed to stumble forward. That would have been an awkward look falling flat on my face.
Rough hands grabbed me by the back of my Legion armour and pulled me forward. I put up a minimal show of resistance but complied with being led further in.
The door closed behind me, and I was pushed to stand before a large desk.
LOG: A device is creating a local jamming field in effect. We have only short-range transmission. Disable or destroy the device to resume communications. Reverting to the local database only.
Looking around, I was in a large office. An overcompensating-sized, what looked like a wooden desk dominated the far side. It sat in front of a wall-sized painting of a beautiful tropical island, made odd by the off-colour plants and water. Four chairs were on my side of the table, and an occupied chair was on the far side. Plaques and what looked like diplomas and other declarations of importance hung interspersed on the walls with shelves of knickknacks and trophies. Soft downlights highlighted some of them, while others were in shadows, making some shapes look sinister.
Besides the chair's occupant were two men dressed in what I had begun to see as the business suits in this place. It was a strange mix of dark material with sashes over the shoulder and a wrap around the waist. The businessmen were in gaudy, impractical Imperial uniforms, standing at the desk whispering with the seated man.
Two apparent bodyguards dressed like soldiers, who looked like and were built like thugs. Massive shoulders, short, thick necks, and short-cropped hair. The bodyguards were not quite as big as Xar or Brick, but they were huge and surprisingly ugly in this post-enhancement, nanite-induced beauty world. A glance behind me indicated that we would not be interrupted as my ghost-like friends in stealth remained outside, probably guarding the door.
I took parade ground attention.
I didn’t even rate being looked at by the guards, so I took the time to scan them with
Identify
I scanned the thugs.
Svanþór Ingiþórsson Rapid Dogs Mercenary Clan Tier 4 Warrior. Strength
Þórsteinn Fylkisson Rapid Dogs Mercenary Clan Tier 4 Warrior. Endurance
Then, the businessmen, it was difficult not to laugh or smile at their gaudy outfits.
Decius Cominius Agricola. Senator. Tier 4. Duke of Xoninerth.
Rulzoff-Urd. Karass Ambassador to Imperial Senate. Tier 4 equivalent.
Then the leader dude in the chair. I hated all these names.
*Spurius Sittius Lepidus - Consul for Plebeians. Tier 4. ????? ????? ??? (Partially Obscured)
As soon as I looked at Rulzoff and Spirrus, their eyes snapped to me. Spirrus looked annoyed.
Rulzoff smirked and clapped his hands, "Well, well, well. There may be some merit in this meeting, after all. The little pup has some courage."
Decius looked over at me, then back at Spurius. He rubbed his hands nervously, "Well, gents, I organised to get him here. It’s all on you now, Spurius. Remember, you owe me a big one. I don’t want this coming back at me, and if it does … well, make sure you keep a lid on it so no one has to worry."
The tension in the room seemed to ramp up several degrees. Things were volatile, and I was a ripe target for whatever crap was going down. I looked at Decius, thankful to him for taking some attention.
He turned to leave. What an idiot. I could have told the Decius dude how this would play out. I had seen enough poorly written mobster TV shows and read a few comics. I knew he was a dead man walking as soon as he opened his mouth. All doubts that this meeting was good for my health disappeared when I stepped in and saw the Karass Ambassador. Decius just confirmed it. It was going to be messy.
Hopefully, I would come out of it unscathed. Now, I had a slight idea about the players but no idea what game we were all playing.
The Consul, Sittius -- ha, I loved that middle name. I bet he had never told a soul his middle name, and I bet his parents didn’t want children -- He didn’t say a word or even look at Decius as he left.
Svanþór the merc, or Svan as I would be calling him, started to follow him out. I’d put all the credits I could put my hands on that we would be reading about an election for a new senator in the next few days. Dead man walking.
I was nervous that they seemed so casual about him being a Duke. When the door closed, I could feel the tension crank again as the attention focused back on me.
Spurius snapped, "He can’t just disappear. The ISID is already asking questions. It will bring unwanted attention if they notice him missing soon after this little gathering. Make it clean."
Rulzoff, the other merc, nodded at Spurius and then left, disappearing with a stealth skill as he did so. Luckily, I could see his outline in my HUD, nothing like a high perception and a great skill.
I cranked on "Charm."
Charm Failed
Charm Failed
Charm Failed
Crap. "Listen, I don’t know anything. I have done nothing. I am just …."
Spurius snarled, "Silence, Tirone. Remember your place. You are an untrained recruit, and I am your superior officer. You swore the oath, you little shit.".
I shut up. I think it was voluntary. There was some pressure from what I identified as my connection to the system. I had no idea what had him so riled up.
Something crashed into the back of my knees, and I stumbled forward, kneeling. It was from surprise rather than being forced to. The rough hand from before grabbed the top of my fancy legion helmet, holding me still. I went with it even though I could have resisted the blow.
Shit, I didn’t even notice the two mercs come back into the room.
Rulzoff smiled. His voice was oily and heavy with hatred. "That’s ok, pup. I am sure you don’t know anything. Thank you, Spurius. I’ll take it from here."
I don’t think I had seen a Karass agent before. Looking closely, I did notice the difference between Rulzoff and Spurius. Rulzoff’s eyes were wider, and the pupils were slightly less round, Not cat-like or dog-like, but just oval. His skin seemed to be covered in subtle patterns, almost like scales. An animal musk seemed to come from him, slightly off, and it put my hackles up.
Are the Karass human?
Sprite: Mostly, yes. Many Karass contain engineered or spliced DNA from conquered species or even some rumours of more sinister combinations. Their Prism, the equivalent of the system here, encourages powerful recombinations.
Enhancements?
Sprite: Yes. Depending on the recombinants. Rulzoff looks like he would have increased sight and reflexes; muscle mass is about 20% higher than a human. His skin could have armour or resistance improvements. Most won’t go too far, and they have laws limiting the amount that can be spliced in and still be counted as pure-blood Karass, but as usual, the rules are different for the powerful. Their system is competition and might-based laws.
"Mind yourself, Rulzoff, I am still a Senator of the Empire, a Consul of the Senate. you will respect that, regardless of your affiliations!” Spirrus snapped.
Interesting. Obviously, not all was rosy here. Maybe I could use this somehow.
Rulzoff smiled, "Of course, Of course. Let me take him now. Once he returns to the embassy, we will scramble his organic synapses and hack his AI. We will use his engrams with a bio-hack and run his pathetic meatsack body with one of our first-rate symbiont units. You don’t really need to know how or why, do you?" he smiled at Spurius.
He looked at me, his heavy-lidded, snake-like eyes blinking at me slowly. "He will be able to attend the meetings, complete his training," and with a nod at me, "A perfect plant into the annoying First Cohort, exciting times ahead." He laughed.
Spurius had the decency to look a bit put out, "Really, Rulzoff. I don’t need to know. We are square. Karass stays out of our territory, and we can look the other way while you do whatever in the backwater realms. That new integration is yours. The First Cohort will be recalled. We will pass on this latest integration, no support and no interference as agreed."
Rulzoff smiled.
Crap, crap, crap. Things were going from bad to worse. Who were these idiots in the Senate? Maybe they had been in power too long and became complacent. However, I did love the idea of monologuing supervillains. I was also amazed at Spurius’ disregard for his own safety. He must know that he would soon join his buddy floating in a river if he was not careful. I couldn’t figure out why this happened openly and with me here. I was sure that being a plant was not the real reason for this.
"You know, Spurius, we have had such a long and prosperous relationship. As an Ambassador, I have had to study your culture. You are not as secure as you wished you were. It would be best if you had spent time studying ours too. You would think you should know better than trust me by now."
Spirrus stood. "Now listen here. You cannot just make …."
Rulzoff cut him off. "You failed to note that the Karass is a proud empire. We do not negotiate or recognise weaklings. You are weak. The Empire, as you call it, is in decline. At the same time here, under the accursed accords, we are not allowed to be direct enemies until war is declared, either by the full Senate or your missing Emperor. Guess what? We have always been and always will be at war with you. You have what we want. Space, resources, organics. For us to see you as a true foe, we would need to see you as equals. You are so far from that you have no idea, perhaps, we are …."
Man, these guys were so bad at being bad. Stop monologuing, dipshit, I sighed. Which switched attention back to me. Crap, Crap.
Sprite: Training override. Stats are returning to normal. I think we will need them as much as we can.
Thanks. I think we are in trouble.
I felt a slight surge as my stats were uncapped.
STATS SUMMARY:
Luke Hammond Earth Human Tier: 5 Level: 18 No Class Chosen.
Body: 394 (S:314 A:314 E:483 C:463)
Mind:391 (I:307 W:487 P:294 I:475)
Spirit: 268 (P:294 W:463 E:S C:313
Karma: 412 (K: 308 L:516)
LIFE:
HP: 5380(189/sec)
MP: 3620(160/sec)
EP: 5280(187/sec)
XP:
Total: 181720 Req: 29180
At the interruption, Rulzoff stopped and looked at the Rapid Dog mercenary behind me. The other Rapid Dog merc moved, I won’t say like lightning, but he was so fast. The mercenary went from standing behind me to the front of the table, then to behind the seated Spurius. He ghosted through the table. It was between an eye blink, and I missed it.
As Spurius fell backwards in shock, he had a Legionnaire training dagger embedded up through his jaw and into his head, up to the hilt.
I saw the body twitch several times, causing me to throw a little into the back of my mouth. This was not how it was supposed to play out. I was not supposed to be here. I was stunned.
Þórsteinn pulled the dagger out of the still-twitching corpse and underhanded it slowly to me. Stupidly, I caught it and stared at it.
Rulzoff waved a little finger at me, "See you shortly, pup. Security is on the way. We have reported the murder. You won’t make trial, and we will have you out of the way, although if you want to claim asylum at the embassy, I won’t reject you. You could live for a little while longer. We won’t be making any of your appointments or training after all." He laughed.
Both he and they all shimmered and disappeared. I felt a slight rush of air as some papers fluttered on the desk.
Sprite: Short-range Teleportation skill.
"Help!" I screamed, jumping over the desk and looking at the body as it spasmed, heels drumming on the floor.
Sprite: Quick. Healing canisters. You have seconds. He is not yet dead."
Identify" was still active.
*Spurius Sittius Lepidus - Consul for Plebeians. Tier 4. ????? ????? ??? is in effect. Critical/Limited Brain Functioning
LOG: Death Imminent.
No shit.
Pulling healing potions from my inventory, I poured them down his throat. I was spreading them on his wound -Berry Liquid of Life, which was red and full of bubbles, Cure for Calamity, light purple or clear Lavender. I removed the knife and poured some Rejuvenation Juice, a bright blue, glowing liquid, over the wound. I was oddly detached, looking at each colour as it went to work. It was a pity I didn’t accidentally grab one of the liquorice ones. I dropped the dagger and put pressure on the wounds, not knowing if that was a good or bad thing. I had only ever done basic first aid; nothing was in the first aid course about dagger wounds to the brain.
Sprite: His brain has been injured, and his significant wounds should heal.
I struggled not to lose my lunch as the wound slowly healed. It was still an open wound. The potions were working but not as quickly as they usually would.
"Help"
LOG: Jamming is still in effect. No communications possible.
Finally, there was a cough as I poured the dark black Reliquary of Recovery canister into his mouth. Ha, finally, I had one of the disgusting ones. I didn’t know if the Liquorice flavour, the mana, the nanites, or what made this one seem to work better than the others. Maybe it was whatever a Reliquary was.
"Help!" I was still yelling.
He made some noises, trying to talk. I was holding his head, "Save your strength. Help is on its way."
Thud. I could hear and feel the door from here.
Security was on its way. I wondered briefly what had happened to the guards in stealth outside.
Some more coughs. I noticed an eye was mangled. It looked like the dagger had gone through his cheek and not directly into his brain. At least the blood had stopped. I had half a bucket of it all over me.
"Help, Medic."
The door shattered. Soldiers seemed to stream into the room, and I discovered what it was like to have multiple weapons pointing at me. I may have peed a little in my nano-weave underwear; seeing the four fully decked out what would pass for Earth SWAT, all of whom had energy weapons aimed at me, was a bit much. I looked at the rifles. I still had the bloody dagger at my feet. My eyes bugged out on the barrels of the weapons aimed at me.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Identify:
Warp Thermal Compact Sniper Rifle. Tier 3 2MW rapid-fire laser sniper rifles. 5 shots per energy pack. Restricted Cerberus Star Division Weapon.
It was weird what your brain focused on when something that was pants-changing scary aimed at you.
"Deactivate all skills, drop your weapons, shut down programs and put your hands on your head. This is not a request. Failure to comply will result in lethal force." A no-nonsense voice cut through the fog in my brain.
Law Enforcement Override. Tier 4 System Shutdown commands.
LOG: Got this. Simulating Shutdown. Simulated Shutdown completed. All systems are operating as expected. Do you wish to enable extraction protocols?
Sprite: We should comply and not interfere with their overrides.
Err, no Sprite. I am with Paranoid on this. We should not be limited, but not the extraction bit, though.
I looked down at the Pugio — the short Legion dagger removed from Consul Spurius’s brain. I raised my hands to my head and stood up.
The four empty healing potions scattered as I stood away.
They shoved me roughly away. Some obvious medics moved over to Spurius and quickly surrounded him. I saw some skills being used on him, with the wounds healing swiftly as he was covered.
Once again, the backs of my knees were bashed, and I was kneeling. I was cable-tied and hooded quite quickly and professionally, and some suppression device was attached.
LOG: Ignoring suppression devices. Sending report to the sales team. A Commission is possible for selling improved suppression data. A 25% discount voucher is available for the next purchase.
LOG: All external communication has been disabled. Low-fidelity connection enabled piggybacking on the internal communication network. 89% chance of non-detection. Suggestion to upgrade hacking package. Talk to a Humble Divine sales representative for further information. Remember you have a 25% discount voucher.
Sprite managed to overlay what was like a camera feed into my head of what was happening around me. Despite my predicament, it was pretty cool.
No one said anything to me. I was roughly manhandled out and away somewhere and eventually thrown into what I assumed was a cell. The ties and the hood remained on.
I'm not sure if I was intentionally kicked or just rough handling, but I was fuming and very unhappy when I was left alone.
Um, Sprite, can you somehow let Julie know what happened? Did you record everything that happened, or can you record stuff like that? If someone can record my battles, I should be able to record crazy shit like that.
Sprite: With an upgraded sensor pack and other equipment, it is possible to record pretty much anything in real time and keep a buffer. Standard battles are recorded, but you have that on a custom setting. We do not have the buffer capacity for full real-time recording, as it has not been a priority. I do, however, have audio logs and your biometric logs, which I am currently flagging so that they cannot be tampered with.
LOG: Paranoid Skill records all stressful situations and moves them off-site when possible. Our secure subspace buffer is available for up to 1 week. Additional time and resources require a higher level of subscription. This package is not available until you reach planetary governor status or higher. Recommendation: make recordings available anonymously in the system shop for 10M Cr. The predicted sale price is high due to the involvement of Tier 4 individuals, Ambassadors and a Duke. Setting it at a Rare or Epic level of privacy will ensure additional profits. I predicted an 80% potential purchase and Humble Divine takes a 10% commission for using cut-outs and guaranteeing anonymity.
Um, sure, I guess.
Sometime later, there was a delayed message from Julie.
Julie: Sprite has filled me in on what happened. If it is any consolation, based on your information, Decius has been detained, but the Rapid Dogs Mercenaries are gone. Spirrus is alive, has suffered severe brain trauma, and is not available for questioning in the short term. I'm not sure what the truth is there; they are pouring over the footage you have made available. It is all hush-hush. He has been placed on Administrative Leave for ‘Health Reasons’. The local medical AI was quite chatty with Sprite. It seems that Sprite is a bit of an AI celebrity. The Karass Embassy has denied involvement and is making motions about warmongering from the Empire and false accusations. Surprisingly, you have been cleared, and the Ambassador denies you were even there. I think he is trying to discredit you. Not everyone is buying it, but there are still many suspicions. You are going to have to sit tight for a bit.
To Julie: Where am I, and what is going to happen?
The whole texting-like conversation with a reasonable delay between messages was annoying.
Julie: Sit tight. You aren’t in immediate danger in a holding cell. They do not see you as a considerable threat, more a pawn in a political game. The fact that you were unwittingly taken there counts in your favour. Some good news: I have finally managed to unfreeze your assets and put off any further meetings. The Senate cannot be seen as interfering with Legion discipline and training now that this has blown up. You would have been screwed without that minimal protection. It also means that your training may be altered or brought more in line with non-wartime training. Instead of Bootcamp, you will head to the Border Enforcement Division Bootcamp. It is more challenging, more for people with troubled pasts, and means we have less access to you. I believe it is the equivalent of your French Foreign Legion. No questions asked.
We are saying you are just a raw recruit and were not involved in this. It is good that not many people seem to know who you are, just some backwater yokel, and we are trying to keep a lower profile. I fear the Senate may use this as an excuse to abandon the fringes more. You were a convenient pawn due to your connections to Xar and the First Cohort. Kaeso thinks it may be a move to discredit Xar and get someone more accommodating as Primus of the First Cohort to support a more isolationist policy. I am working as your legal representative on multiple fronts. The shit just gets better and better.
I returned a message and waited for the reply.
To Julie: Gaahhh, Politics. What about the Karass angle? It seemed that he was running the whole show. I think that is just a smoke screen. Or maybe the Plebs are playing another game. Man, I want to get back to just training, something nice and straightforward. Tasar will be pissed! If I didn’t hate the Karass before, I am officially and personally at war with them. Hey, how are Mike and Amy doing? Anything on Sarah?
Sitting hooded in the dark and waiting was tedious.
That also meant a few others had completed their enhancements, and the race was finally out of Beta! Maybe it needed more than a couple of guinea pigs. After the joy of knowing that others were progressing, I went back to being bored.
It was also frustrating. No one came when I yelled. I had nothing to eat or drink, not that I needed to. Everything was locked down. Even the Paranoid skill was eerily quiet. At some stage, I must have dozed off or fallen asleep. Lucky for me, I had a stuffy hood on, and no one could see the drool. Given how hungry I was, I was here for some time, probably days.
Hey Sprite, can you enable notifications? I am not sure if they were still off from when I was training. In future, can you auto-enable it when I am suppressed for training and then turn it off when we move to full stats? If I have not told you, I do appreciate the little things!
Sprite: Done. Please don’t take my silence as abandonment here. I am running simulations over my data for Solace and Sarah’s disappearance. I, too, believe that they are still alive. Solace’s disappearance was not congruent with the failure to exist.
Thanks, keep it up. I have hope, too.
I went through some of my notifications.
Title Awarded: Not Alone.
You have gone from being the only recognized member of your race or species to having others join the System. For this recognition of being the first and the Guinea pig, you get +10 charisma when dealing with members of your species.
Race Upgrade from Beta Earth Human to Earth Human.
That must have been when Mike or Sarah had finished their tutorial. Excellent, another title. I needed to keep on top of all these notifications.
Skill Acquired: SWEARS TOO MUCH (Upgradable)
All Earth humans start with this essential system skill. Due to early pioneers of the newly recognised Earth Human species, Ms Sara Owens and Mr Mike Edwards, using excessive profanity, all humans now have the system profanity filter and randomiser enabled. An auto timer has been implemented to help curb this tendency. Every time an Earth Human being uses a profane word - spoken or in messages - a random word from their local language will be substituted. A default 1-week timer is enabled, to which a cumulative time penalty will apply in 24 hours, then weekly, then monthly increments. Once this timer reaches 6 months, this skill locks and becomes permanent. The Karmic Penalty increases as the timer penalty increases. Please contact the system to see a list of words considered profanity. Any Tier 4 or above AI can assist. Please contact the system directly to add or remove a word from the list. If you remove the timer, this skill will be paused, and the randomiser will be turned off. You may select the randomise at any stage when it is unlocked. Doing so will reduce your karmic penalty.
I was not sure what Sarah and Mike had been up to. It made me sad and was a bitter reminder that she was gone. I knew it was all Sarah, too. She was known to drop the odd f-bomb or three.
I must have dropped into a trance-like sleep as I was roughly shaken awake.
"Boy, you are lucky. If the rumours are true, you should be sent to work in the Lumsbar Pleontine or worse."
What is the Lumsbar Pleontine?
Solace: It is a deep space mining operation. Mining the remains of a long-deceased Elder Being. Its skull is the size of a moon and has valuable energy-dense resources. The mine is in constant flux due to the spatial distortions and weird energy signatures. Tech and magic are unpredictable, so organics do most of the work. The system is also erratic there. Life expectancy is low.
I grunted and started stretching. At least, this was something new.
"You don’t know about the mines, do you? Bots don’t work there, so they use scum like you. Well, as I said, lucky for you, the Legion stepped in." I heard him spit onto the floor. "It’s the Bloody Legion looking after its own again."
There was another spitting noise. "One day, you will find out that you are not above the law, oath or no oath. Although, you got stones the size of a Cong Míng Piàoliang’s" …
Sprite: Cong Míng Piàoliang would be a Moon Rabbit before you ask. They are known for the size of their male reproductive organs.
Thanks, I was going to ask.
He continued, ignorant of my internal conversations, "If it is true. Tell me, they said you faced the Karassian ambassador and lived. He is a nasty piece of work from all the socials. Is that true? I can make money if you tell me, and if I make a bit of money, you might walk a little easier and get my drift?"
He waited.
I stayed silent for Mr. Chatty.
"Suit yourself. We gotta get you moving. Damn, hate the Karass more than Legion."
The hood was taken off, finally. I did notice the ties remained around my wrists. I was pretty much in my Legion under clothes, which, luckily for me, were self-cleaning. They had removed my boots and the leg ties.
"I want to speak to my legal representative ", I said as I was given some ugly clothing to get into.
That was ignored.
I felt a sting on my arm.
LOG: A tracking device has been inserted into your bloodstream. LOG: Notify when you want it disabled or jammed.
Screw being tracked.
Can you disable tracking?
LOG: Tracker Disabled. Notify me when you want it enabled.
Sprite: Luke, hang on. It would be best if you went with them to get out of here. We are working on getting you reassigned. Julie has sorted out your current fugitive situation. You were on their most-wanted list for a bit, but that bounty has been removed and blocked. Someone is working against you – we now know it is likely the Karass, so we know who, but not why. Kaeso has decided to move you as far from the Karras influence as possible. Oh, you are on military probation for now. Your assets have been restored, but they took all your credits instead of punishment. Julie will get those returned to you since the seizure was illegal. We can get that sorted in soon. That just seemed to be a greedy grab at something. Now, you must face Legion discipline.
Crap, I hate politics.
Sprite: That is a separate issue from what the Senate does. There is so much going on, and Xar and Julie don’t have any more political capital to burn to make more than token efforts to improve your lot now. Xar is busy trying to keep a force on Earth. There have been some increases in chaos activity on Earth, too, around Brisbane and your energy sources in Port Douglas and Min Min. Sorry, there's nothing for you to worry about. Xar said that you should be fine. Julie is busy with Earth Inc. and investigating what is going on, as there seems to be little interest in discovering the truth about the attempted assassination. Everything is being ignored. She fears that if the Karass angle were pushed, it would mean increased conflict, if not all-out war. Julie has returned to Earth and is working on your support from there.
Mr. Chatty continued, "I said to get moving, not hold things up. Talking to legal folk will keep you here longer and make it more likely to have an accident, get my drift. Some powerful folks are already unhappy, and some just like to stir trouble. Me, I like credits. The Senator and a Duke go missing, and you are sent to Bootcamp. Ha. I'm not sure what you did, but people like you have accidents when things like that happen. Especially since you are being released to the Legion for disciplinary action." he spat again, "Bloody Legion."
We started moving out, and I remained silent.
"I reckon you are not being executed because of your legal representation. She was loud and mighty pretty, too. She is the only reason I know anything at the moment. The Senate and the Legion want this to go away, so shut your trap about seeing her, although I’d like to see her, " he laughed, "Pity she left as soon as your creds were taken. Ha. Hurry up."
He shoved me to try and make me stumble, which I ignored.
He grumbled at his failed pettiness, "You are shipping out, and don’t expect special treatment because you are Legion – even though they look after their own. They police their own, too." He spat again, "They have something nasty lined up for a certain new recruit. Oh, sorry, I didn’t say anything. You are just a fancy Legion Tirone who messed up. There’s some high publicity and coverage, and I think one of the bigwigs oversees your training. Now, any info you give me means less trouble for you."
The boy could ramble. I ignored what he was saying, forcing myself to walk.
"You better get more than 50 pushups, or I’ll come and find you myself." The guard said as we kept walking along. Finally, we got to what seemed to be the back entrance of the Senate building. I was not sure what I expected, but it was not this.
"Hurry up, report to the Legion Barracks within 2 hours. They are coming to your cell to collect you then. If you are missing, AWOL is worse than what is waiting for you. You are locked from portals and transport, so a no-show and a dead or alive bounty get posted, and we get to hunt you again, and this time it will be easy."
He laughed as he shoved me through the door, and as it closed, he snickered, "You empire scum a so gullible."
LOG: You have 2 hours before AWOL Trainee Protocols are enacted. Due to your limited financial status and probation status, Humble Divine will only assist in life-or-death situations after this time expires. Our legal department has deemed you a high-risk, high-reward client, and as such, we wish to help where we can but may be legally obligated not to.
What?
LOG: Further high-level interaction needs to be handled with our legal team and may incur additional fees and time delays. Low-level protection is retained. Tier 2 and 3 functions. Full functionality will be restored when your financial and probation status has been resolved. Good Luck.
LOG: 900000 Cr deposited in your account. Recording of interactions sold.
LOG: 900000 Cr deposited in your account. Recording of interactions sold.
LOG: 900000 Cr deposited in your account. Recording of interactions sold.
Sprite: I have just received notification of the requirements for your recruit training. I am sorry, but we need to follow these very carefully. If you do not, you may be bounced back to civilian status, which is not bad but could impact how Xar can interact with you in the future. Paranoid said that AWOL protocols will be enacted if you do not show. The fact that you were busted out of detention by a Karass agent is worrying.
Sprite, can you notify the Legion that I am on my way?
Sprite: Yes. The Legion wants you to make it to the Barracks before the time expires. Suppose they know where you are. They will not have to check your cell and record your ‘escape’. If you show up at the barracks claiming a Karass agent freed you, it will be bad for both the Senate and the Legion.
Politics over exposing traitors?
Sprite: it would seem. Julie is appealing this, but your oath makes it difficult for us to work around certain aspects. You will be taken to Bootcamp - Border Enforcement Division Bootcamp, not standard Legion Bootcamp. No special favours and no exceptional circumstances. In six months, if you graduate. You will be posted based on your merits. Xar can have some say in your postings. As Primus of the First Cohort, he gets his pick of the recruits. If you are not near the top, more questions will be asked if he picks you. Remember, Low profile, score well.
Tremendous, no pressure. Can you help me get to the Barracks? Can you let Julie and Amy know what has happened? Send them a message. Can I record a message?
Sprite: Yes, I can send a message. Sending a recording can get expensive and tricky as they are items of interest and can be intercepted and traded for in the shop. I will do what I can. I can help you get to the Barracks, and I suggest you get an updated mapping skill on your next shopping trip. Regarding shopping, Julie got Earth Inc. under control again while you were asleep. They will keep moving forward with the plan while you are in Bootcamp. Amy and Mikey are both doing well. Amy has some exciting news for you. She was upset when Xar told her you would not be back for six months, but she will wait to tell you to your face.
Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap. I felt a little dumped on and shoved to the side, but at least I had some people looking out for me. I missed Sarah. It was sad that we had finally started something, and then it was interrupted. That was so frustrating, we had just gotten an awkward understanding going, and I was unsure where it would have gone. I was not letting it go. She was alive.
Legion Bootcamp sounded terrible. I didn’t mind the hard work but was not looking forward to the regimented training. I liked my individual training back home and would miss Sarah when she returned. I was not giving up on her. I would miss Mikey too, and even Amy.
With a sigh and a less-than-dignified walk, I headed off. I felt angry and ripped off. I came to this place in good faith and felt alone, betrayed if not by the Legion or the Senate, and even bitter about the Karass. I didn’t take in much of the splendour around me or make note of any of the looks I was getting as we left. In different circumstances, I would have paid much more attention to both.
I was in a strange city. It really was a magnificent place. I was feeling a little down and dejected, betrayed and confused. My thoughts kept returning to what I would say to Sarah when I returned and I found her alive.
I activated all my stealth.
Stealth - Hide from shit.
Can’t see me. I am invisible.
Following Sprite’s easy directions, I missed most of the wonder of my first actual alien city. I did note that it was a mix of different cultural styles and a mix of other species, still primarily humanoid. Now and then, I saw some bizarre beings, things I would possibly have called monsters a few weeks ago. More arms and legs. Eyes in the wrong spots. Scales, fur and feathers. Seeing all of them really put Earth's racism in perspective back home.
Back on earth, many people got upset because your skin was a slightly different colour, your eyes were angled, or even if you had red hair! Here, there seemed to be none of that. Or none that I could see. Maybe it was a very earth-human-centric trait to fear everything different. I wondered how the other species got along so well.
The style of buildings tended to be clumped together, making a few very different and distinct areas. I tried to categorize them with references to what little I knew of Earth's cultural styles, most of which came from movies, comics and TV. Chinese, Japanese, European and Middle Eastern were all represented in some form or another. Sweeping arches, red brick, sleek metal and glass. It sounds like a mishmash, but I thought it looked cool.
Despite my rubber neck, I could not afford to indulge in curiosity, so I kept moving and kept away from crowds.
All too soon, I was at the barracks.