“Good work guys,” I say panting, between slurps of juice and bites of aether infused jam cookies.
“Do you enjoy almost dying all of the time?” Jenna kneels down and grabs my face while searching for something in my eyes.
“Relax. I’m just tired, they only tapped me a few times. I didn’t want to lead them to the enclosed space.
Jenna sighs, shakes her head and gives me a small peck before walking away.
“She doesn’t have much confidence in you, does she?” Katie says, sitting next to me and stealing a cookie. “You really need to engage more than your lizard brain though. You should have flown above them.”
Well shit, “You’re right. I am not used to fighting in this suit. It takes much less effort to fly in this one.” I wrap an arm around her and side hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too, the experience is solid. Now I know why you were so excited to come out.” I shake my head and shoulder check her. I get a smile out of it, which is better than most days.
“Jerk. Do you still have a drone scouting?” She nods. “Can you keep an eye out while I recover some and stuff some pigs in my shuttle?”
“Is this really the time Penny?”
“Hey, I have a hidden stat to recover and I can’t do that in combat.”
>/Oak’s got overwatch, I need 20 mins non-combat/stress work./< I tell the team.
I summon my shuttle and start gutting pigs and carving out crystals. After the first one, Jenna and Solari help me work while Katie and Speth watch our asses. I do some ass watching myself, though none of it productive—fun though.
We get through about half of corpses before my stamina and will feel recovered to usable levels, and my shuttle is nearly full. I put it away and dig out the remaining crystals from these aether forged Pavul. I hand Katie a handful and she picks over them for a minute before standing and kissing me on the cheek.
“Thanks. Do you eat them or crush them?”
“I have never tried to eat them . . . I will after we leave. That could be a fun time. I recommend against trying it for tech users. Jenna, have you gotten your first major mutation yet?”
“I should get my symbiote tier 1 after this, so soon. Talk later?” she asks and I nod. “Alright, as Oak and Speth haven’t alarmed us, we have an entrenched enemy, got a layout for us?”
Katie nods and pulls out what looks like an oversized vinyl chessboard. She makes some finger gestures and pulls the air away from the board and an opaque model of the lower caverns are shown.
“Wait, those look like defensive structures. Like, things that take tools to make.” Speth calls out.
Katie nods “My assessment as well. Based on Penny’s concerns, my altered scans show at least three beings with aether levels high enough to be tier 3, possibly intelligent. Definitely structures around them. Recommend explosive entry, repeat until cave in.”
“Can you do that without killing us?” Jenna asks the question I don’t want to answer.
“Confidence goes down per consecutive bomb. Don’t recommend more than two.”
We spend a few minutes trying to optimize the placement of the two bombs before we call the prep over. Plan in place, Jenna taking point and I’m cooking some annihilation bombs. The mood is bright, we feel secure in our roles and that calming focus lasts all of ten minutes.
Fuck my life. I blip in my special ammo hand cannon and form a few void bullets after chucking a grenade.
>/SHIELDS UP/< I order in my mind while I disregard trying to form and fire void bullets into Aether Forged Voosel and the damned Tamer. I have a personal shield in this suit, but I’m going to get ticket to meet the cave wall soon. Except I have ripple drives and space anchors. I fire the four bullets I form and plug the tamer and two voosel, then I let the Annihilation explosion push me across the cave before halting my movement. I toss the other bomb in at the large aether signature and it zips away toward the cavern wall. I take a moment to curse, realizing my aether sight probably showed me something higher than the Voosel Tamer. I take a brief moment to inspect before I shut down my senses for the bomb.
Shit. >/Patriarch, 54, powered by religion. Keep eyes on the Voosel, their spit melts armor./<
Solari smiles wickedly before disappearing into the smoke and debris of my bombs. She must have some sort of enhanced sight, otherwise that would be no reason to smile. I can’t get into another prolonged blink battle, not and still maintain my escape plan.
Jenna starts barking orders while Katie updates firing solutions for those that can’t see in the mess. We slowly work through the Voosel and a few Pavul that are teaming up with them and then hear thundering steps from the far corner.
“ENOUGH!” I’m shocked by language and stop what I’m doing. “You come here to destroy us after refusing your barbary?! What manner of plague are you?”
I know it’s not a language I know, but I am VERY surprised that the Matrix has heard it before. “I’m the Empress of several systems, including this one, Patriarch. Had the Matrix identified your presence, I would have treated with you earlier.”
“Treat with us? One of you ‘Humans’ already came forth and demanded sacrifices and workers for a pittance. What makes your word any different.” Oh man, this sentient swine has better diction than most people I know and they’ve had language their whole lives.
“I’m a ‘Pixie’ and I have the authority to give you the land you inhabit via official treaty?” He ponders so I continue to speak, “Humans are new to the Matrix, and as such have never encountered species that awaken from beast to person before. How many of you have language?”
That question brought him out of his thoughts, “That, I do not wish to share. You have killed many today that were close to ascending to ‘people’ as you call it, and I have not had time to mourn their losses.” I hear the squeals of dying Voosel and Pavul, suffering from the injuries we’ve caused.
>/Stand Down/<
“Do you wish our assistance for medical treatment of the wounded?”
He snarls at me, “I would die before I see you touch another of my tribe. But a blood price would be a show of goodwill and from that I can tend my wounded and honor the dead.”
>/You don’t owe them anything Penny./<
>/I owe the Duke a punch in the face./< but I say nothing about the Pavul.
“I have sent five thousand credits and some documents and a map for you to mark your claimed territory.” He takes a brief moment to stare off into the Matrix before narrowing his beady piggy eyes at me.
“What will you do if I refuse?” Ahh, yes. I would expect nothing less from a fellow ruler.
“Me? Nothing. I make no promises about the other races that live in or may visit the area, however. Aether-Forged animals are a point of interest on this planet, and your kin are the only ones we’ve found so far. Take that as you will.”
He growls louder this time and stabs his scepter into the ground, twisting it three times before squealing an activation word. An angry bubble snaps into place around him, growing larger centimeters every second. The power in the shield makes it feel like a dismissal with a promise of harm.
“Impressive. Everyone, head back to the next cavern up. I have some testing I want to do before we leave.”
They do as I ask, but clearly not pleased.
>/Penny, do not try to solo that pig./<
>/Relax, I just want to throw a few spells at his shield/<
>/I agree with Oak on this, Penny. Let’s just go./<
>/Five minutes./<
I didn’t know you could convey a grunt over a data line.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I raise my pulse pistol to the edge of the shield and plug a few into it. The first two are reflected at right angles and the third is absorbed. Huh, odd. I try it again and the same happens. There must be a capacitance for the reflective energy, needing a short re-charge before enabling again. Neat!
The Patriarch snarls at me again, but I’m unsure if he’s mad about me playing with his shield or not doing as he threatened. Maybe both. I shrug and decide for the next test as half a dozen pulses don’t seem to have any affect.
I step back a few meters and spray some Nightmare Napalm at the shield. I expect it to slide off as it attacks the shield, but to my great surprise, it sticks. To the Pavul’s great surprise, after a few seconds, several globs drop through before the shield snaps back over where it ate. There’s no way to hold the interest from my face after seeing how ravenous that void glop is. His shield is dynamic and strong, credit where it is due for the shield not breaking when the void got through, and strong enough to keep advancing after that kind of trauma to its energy field.
I touch two fingers to my forehead in a half-salute before turning away. “Think about the offer, Patriarch and good luck.”
***
“Is it bad to say that I’m surprised you took the diplomatic route?” Jenna asks.
I splash her in the face in response to the audacity of her saying that in my spa.
“I would have said the same before I read the minutes of the Andromeda Forum and saw her Title.” Katie says, being surprisingly social today. I expected her to avoid me after this. Maybe the expectation and embarrassment she thinks is between us is lessened with company?
“I’d be peeved, but with Calamity as a part of my class, I get it. Enough about that. Did anyone get any fun upgrades?”
“I got a mess of skill upgrades and a few levels. My AI is encouraging me to ask for a few of those crystals for a mutation I’ve been trying for.” Solari adds between gulps of her margarita.
Katie nods, “Same. Not the mutation though. I’ve had enough of those. Excited to examine the crystals though. I plan to do that after my social obligations are finished.”
“Oh, I see,” I say, poking her side, “You just want me for my lab.”
She nods, “That and I wanted to ask about the baby.”
The sound of breaking glass from the side of me and across from me keeps me from sneering at Katie. I look over to see that Solari toppled her margarita and Jenna smashed the glass in her hand.
“Oh, did I forget to tell you both that I’ve been pregnant for months? Surprise!”
“Fucking how?!” They both said “how” at the same time.
“Uh, I was trying to grow the crystal part of a brain for an automaton in my abdomen when I leveled up. Matrix saw organic matter where my uterus would have been and decided I was trying to procreate. So now I have a tiny pixie with an enormous head growing in there.” I say, poking at my slightly rounded belly.
“This may be the first case of an ‘oopsie’ lesbian pregnancy.” Solari chuckles, raising her hand to flag Oren down.
“Are you okay Jenna?” I say, putting a hand on her shoulder, watching her pick glass out of her hand.
“Yeah, It’s just a huge surprise. We’d talked about you wanting kids, but it seemed a far future thing.” I did not think that Jenna would be mopey about it, but here it is. Silence carries the room as Oren comes out, hands Solari another margarita and starts cleaning up.
Solari and Katie are pointing their raised eyebrows at me.
“What? We still talk and make-out sometimes.”
Solari flicks a lime at me. “And here I was hoping to ask you out after the Marshal thing was official.”
“What’s stopping you?” Katie asks her.
“Uh, I thought you were?”
Katie snorts at that. “Our marriage got a little out of hand, but I’m pretty sure Jenna’s ACE and I’m not recovered from some trauma yet, so I won’t begrudge Penny a little companionship.”
Overwhelmed by the series of admissions from Katie, I hug her tight. “Thank you for caring, and for trying so hard these last few months.” Respecting her touch limit, I back off while still sitting close enough for her to hold my hand after I let go of her.
“Can we talk more about the baby? The rest of this, makes me uncomfortable.” She picks at the bandage that Oren helped put on her. He really is coming along nicely with that learning algorithm Naomi’s husband installed.
“Sure. She’s coming along, was at 80 something percent yesterday, but I should probably check again after today’s adventure.”
Can you help me compartment my analysis Tessa? I ask her while aiming my aether eyes and Assess my shining ball of aether.
Uhh. Wow.
Strangely, she does not officially get inducted into the system until she is born. However, the markers for her “creation” are there. Heritage: Pixie Queen. Magics used during Gestation: Primary—Will-based Teleportation; Secondary—Shielding; Tertiary—Transmogrification. Biology-based Traits marked for transfer: Two slots available. Parental Title-induced lottery available.
Wait, does this mean I can tailor what my kids inherit? This seems like a major helping hand.
It is. Letting me tell you this is major for your next child, but the specifics like this are only visible when they’re too late to change. Also, 95% is essentially you’re going to give berth after you check your system messages.
So, I’m going to have a baby, today. “I’m having a baby today.”
Suddenly I’m being pulled out of the water by Katie and Jenna, carried down the stairs by Jenna, and set down gently on my bed. I chuckle at their rush.
“How far apart are your contractions, do you need pain killers?” Solari fumbles with some towels as she asks.
“Relax ladies, I can’t give birth like that. Don’t have the equipment. From what I just discussed with Tessa, I will check my messages, I will get some prompts and then some magic will happen. I am unsure if I have to cut her out first, or if a ‘tada’ baby in the hands moment will occur, but I think I’ll be prompted.”
A collective sigh from my favorite people has them relax a smidgen. “have you picked a name?”
“Lira, Mira, Nia, and Zia are all my short list.”
“Mm, I prefer the last two.” Katie says. The other two nod, probably not thinking that they should have input. I respect that.
“Then little Zia Oak Astoria it is.” Jenna snorts and Solari covers her mouth, attempting not to laugh at my wife.
“That’s a very ‘Nature’s Child’ name, Penny. Are you sure she’s not Francesca’s?”
“Very sure you grumpus. Everyone ready to meet her?” They nod, and I check my messages.
Alaris was understandably thrilled with the last one, never thinking I would finish it. Now she has the best ballistic armament in the sector. The Crown, while a work of art, is a significant drain on my resources while wearing it.
Your child is ready to be born! As a magic-based creature, your child has absorbed enough aether to complete a transformative mutation toward autonomous living. As their parent, you may donate up to two levels to their birth. Do you wish to apply additional levels towards birth? No Yes-1 Yes-2
Yes-2 please. I want her to have all the benefits she can.
Andromeda, you blessed, amazing Matrix. I could kiss you. Please let her inherit some of Katie’s looks.
I get the barest moment to revel in the euphoria of the moment before a massive flash of aether is expelled from my body, a weight slumps in my lap, and I’m exhausted and near empty of aether.