“You know we warned you about Denise all along right?” Nick stood atop an old Jeep wrangler. He was elbowed in the side by Adrian, you had been standing next to him, holding a high powered rifle.
“Come on man, he’s probably been through enough already.” Adrian chided him.
“You’re probably right.”
Alan had agreed to meet the pair the next morning to assist with the expansion efforts of the team. His pals would have looked pretty cool, parked on top of one of the black mounds in full combat gear, except the old jeep was more rust than the original orange paint. It also didn’t help that the door panel was graffitied in bright blue letters, “Nick’s Knightmares.”
“What are the ‘Knightmares’? Nick?”
“It’s my unit's name of course. All the Kragga defense will have one, but none as cool as mine.” He smirked, “It’s also going to be my mercenary name, just in case you get any more uppity and I have to go solo.”
Nick had always had a unique taste in naming things. He’d been part of the FFA growing up, and had named his pig ‘Link’ a not so subtle hint about its future. “Uh huh, and Andrian thought the name was cool too?”
“Leave me out of it, he came up with that on his own. I’m just here for moral support.” Nick gave Adrian a look of mocked hurt for not standing by his choice of names. Adrian had never been one to support many of Nick’s more ridiculous antics.
“Why don’t you give me a run down of the current plan and then I can make fun of you later.” Alan hopped off his own 4-wheeler.
Nick brought out a map to show the deployment of the various Kragga Defense force units that he had organized and their routes. It helped that with the promise of credits and VE for cores they harvested, the troops were motivated to spread in all directions around the scrap sea and beyond. “You know Alan, with the perks and title you received after defeating the bug queen it's going to be easy expanding your territory.” Nick was referring to a perk Alan had gotten where he’d be able to expand into unclaimed territory, as long as the troops claimed it in his name, and occupied it appropriately. He no longer had to use the device provided by Cosmos and credits to ‘buy’ territory.
Adrian added matter of fact, “Don’t forget we’re supposed to find a ship for Shelley.” He helpfully reminded everyone about the future prospect of space travel if they did find an intact shuttle. Of course his own excitement in piloting one added to his eagerness.
The trio hopped in the jeep and drove in the general direction of the territory of the scavenger town at the edge of the blackened earth marking the boundary of the scrap sea. Occasionally, they’d come across the occasional pack of rodents of unusual size. From a distance they appeared to look like ferrets, which when standing next to you would be the size of a great Dane.
“YAAHHH!!!!” Nick howled as he leapt over 30 feet from the passenger side of the jeep, hammer held aloft, into a pack of the rodents. His blow caused the Jeep to shake briefly, as chunks of bone and stone shrapnel sliced through the pack. Nick didn’t hesitate to swing his hammer wide, catching to 2 more of the beasts, flinging their battered bodies across the field.
Nick roared as one of the pack members flung itself on his back latching onto him with claws and needle-like teeth. It was only half beat later as a high pitched buzz of an energy discharge pulsed, and a blue golf sized orb left a smoldering crater in the skull of the rodent. Adrian's enhanced reflexes and perceptions had easily found its target sitting at the driver's seat of the Jeep Wrangler, his eyes trained down the sights of an energy pulse rifle. His actions had twoimpacts. First the rodent's claws immediately went limp, a sure sign the shot had been lethal. Secondly, the jaws of the animal, whether by design or happenstance, stayed latched to Nick’s neck, giving the illusion that he was wearing a fur stole.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Alan wasn’t far behind, as he shot out arcs of high energy toward the increasing swarm of the frenzied monsters. As he got nearer, he shifted the VE into a more complex shape close to a shield and axe with the assistance of his gloves. Alan's only goal was to guard the back of Nick, preventing any more of the Ferranes….or Darretts, he’d worry about the name later, from attacking the backside of his friend. Nick, for his part, kept both hands on his hammer, smashing any of them that got to close. All the while half whimpering, half yelling as the body of the Grearret --no that was terrible.-- continued to swing from side to side as if glued to NIck's body.
A high pitched squeal, was heard as the Mother of the brood came charging up from a hole at the base of a hill. The E grade creature, on the threshold of pushing D grade, continued to screech nearly causing Alan’s eardrums to burst, and causing Adrian to drop his rifle and clap his hand to his ears. Nick seemed to be the only one who shook off the vocal attack, and without hesitation flung his hammer toward the monster, sundering the matriarch in two.
Standing half bent, Alan took deep breaths, attempting to recover from the unexpected effort. “Nick, I know you were bored with the last few fights.” He stood straight taking half panting. “But next time warn us when you intend to commit virtual suicide.”
“What would be the fun in that?” Nick reached behind his neck with both hands and pried open the jaws still clamped around his neck. A squirt of blood trickled down his neck as he held out the limp corpse.
“Nick, what are you doing? You finally started to look fashionable.” Adrian gave him a grin. “You might actually be able to get a date.”
Nick looked down at the carcass eyeing it carefully before putting it into his matter ring. “You’re just jealous,since the ladies are more interested in these guns.” He flexed his biceps, “instead of shooting guns.”
“Yeah, no. Just wait till I get my first starship. No lady will be able to resist my charms as a pilot.
“Guys, seriously. Nick, do you not know the penalties for getting yourself killed stupidly? You could have gotten removed for multiple days, if not longer in Cosmos.” Alan hoped he didn’t actually need to teach the pair about what happened.
“Alan, I was just bored. Ok. This was the sixth pack, and the first scratch I've had.” He pointed to his neck. “It was a heck of a lot more exciting than standing side by side, while Adrian shoots from a distance. I needed to mix it up.”
“Fine, we can mix it up, but let us know next time.” Alan smirked, “If you don’t, I’ll be sure to have my sister make this picture the next spotlight of her next video blog.” Alan shared a photo he’d snagged of Nick, half turned with red blood smeared across his face, and the giant ferret’s body draped across his back. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure how many ladies you're going to line up with such a provocative photo. Especially, if I get somebody with photoshop to make you even more radiant.”
“Hey man, that’s not cool.” Nick’s face turned red as he looked into his own smoldering eyes, captured in the heat of battle.
Adrian began laughing in the background.
“Message received. I’ll let you know next time. Can you both please delete the photo.”
Adrian was still wiping a few tears away as they drove to the next location. They’d both reluctantly agreed to delete the photo if Nick behaved himself. Alan checked his notifications and was pleasantly surprised to find an update on the current progress.
Subjugation of local area completed. Please see new territory boundaries. Note that if boundaries are not appropriately maintained the claim shall be lost and will need to be subjugated.
Calculating days until claim is lost based on: Difficulty of subjugation, distance from territory, time since previous claim and additional variables…
Time till claim fails: 14 days.
He’d been receiving notifications throughout the afternoon. The other teams Nick had assigned were methodically claiming territory. Some areas were smaller plots while others covered over a city block. Everyone on the team was updated with the information on how to proceed.
“I don’t understand why this is so easy, Alan.” Adrian took his eyes off the road, speaking over his shoulder. “Why isn’t this place already claimed by the local aliens?”
“It has to do with manpower. Most everyone who lives here doesn’t represent their race, their outcasts, independent adventurers, or just those who want to live outside the laws of the major systems. For most advanced civilizations, Kragga is a glorified dump.”