Chapter 14

A Small Band of Rogue Goblins

Dani took it the hardest. She seemed absolutely destroyed. Frankie was pissed, and I could tell she wanted to take it out on me. As it turned out, Uzik was bluffing. He just wanted to give us a scare.

“From now on you will let me know where you are at all times,” our commander said. He was talking to Dani. Uzik wasn’t stupid. He knew this was on her.

“Yes, sir,” Dani said.

“I’m serious Dani.”

“Yes, sir.”

Just because Dani got the brunt of Uzik’s ire, didn’t mean that Frankie and I went unscathed. We each got reamed. Then Uzik spent quite a bit of time talking with Captain Silas. Exhausted, I ate a massive dinner, and then retired to my room. I lay back in my bed after a nice long shower.

[Cyborg,] Pipper said. [You have one remaining spec point. Would you like to allocate that now?]

[Yea, now’s a good time. Will you please allocate one spec point to IMINT please?]

[Executing command. One spec pont allocated to IMINT. Allocation successful. IMINT is now at 4/5. IMINT has reached the Compartmentalize Initiation. Your subconscious is now being trained to filter IMINT data for you. The next stage of IMINT is the final stage 5/5. That will be the Compartmentalize Finalization stage which will move IMINT into the Third Intelligence between you and Orion.]

[Yea,] I thought. [I remember how painful that was with SIGINT back on Mahns-a-Lore.]

[That was painful because you applied spec points to SIGINT back to back without time to condition your subconscious,] Pipper said.

[Hopefully things will be better this time, brother,] Orion said.

[You are on the verge of leveling up once more,] Pipper said. [Your training is going quite well. Compared to others at your level and capabilities, you have outpaced everyone and currently hold the record in learning your Cymech and mech capabilities.]

[That doesn’t sound right,] I said. [Frankie’s always on me about being slow.]

[I am comparing the data I have with all historical data from Cymechs of Mira’s Domain.]

[Congratulations!] Orion said.

[Thanks man.]

I wondered why Frankie was so hard on me. The others had said she was harder on me than anyone else they’d seen before. I’m not entirely sure it was because I nearly destroyed Orion when I was on Mahns-aLore. I had a feeling it was more than that.

[Pipper, when would be the best time to allocate my next spec point to IMINT?]

[I recommend waiting at least one full day, Cyborg.]

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That didn’t sound bad at all. I certainly didn’t want to go through the torture that I went through bringing SIGINT to 5/5. I wanted to stay as far away from that mental pain and anguish as I could.

I slipped into bed, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I was wracked with guilt. I felt like I’d really let Uzik down. Even Siam seemed disappointed when I’d seen him. Then there were Dani and Frankie. I didn’t know what to do with those two.

I gave a big sigh and rolled out of bed. I thought I’d make some sleepytime tea or something from the mess hall. The tea would be worth it because I was probably going to have to be up in a matter of hours. Precious hours where I could be sleeping.

In the mess hall, I put on some water to boil, prepped my tea, and leaned back against the counter while I waited. In came Frankie wearing pajamas. She was startled to see me for a moment.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Frankie said.

“Yea. You?”

“Had some things I wanted to check up on in the habitation.”

“In your pajamas?”

She glared at me.

“I have to stay on my toes, no matter what I’m doing. Do you know how many times I’ve had to wake up to fix problems? I don’t have the luxury to do things on my own time. I have to be there the moment a problem occurs.”

“Was there a problem just now?”

“No, but like I said, I couldn’t sleep.”

The water boiled and I poured myself some hot water. Frankie tore open a bag of tea and pushed her mug beside mine to be filled as well. With both our mugs filled, I took mine, bid Frankie goodnight, and started to leave.

“You don’t want to finish your tea here?” Frankie said.

“You can tell me how slow and inexperienced I am tomorrow,” I said. “I’m going back to my room for some peace and quiet.”

I didn’t look back as I left. I’d probably regret my snarky comment tomorrow, but I was too tired to care. By the time my tea was halfway gone, I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

The next morning, everyone was quiet. Siam seemed to be the only one in good spirits. Frankie seemed dazed and out of it. I wasn’t entirely sure she’d gotten any sleep at all. Dani was still pissed off, and Uzik was going through IMINT data. At least breakfast was fair enough.

“Alright FreeWheel,” Uzik said suddenly. “Frankie and Siam are going to revisit Faktuus. You two will leave in fifteen minutes. Should take you a few hours. The rest of you are going to suit up in the habitation and wait for my command. You too Nikola.”

“Yes commander,” Nikola said.

“I’ll be hearing from Captain Silas in the next few seconds. SIGINT will be locked between the two of us. You’ll all be able to hear, but won’t be able to contribute.”

[Incoming signal,] Orion warned me.

SIGINT activated and I heard Captain Silas’s voice, crystal clear, as though he were right beside us.

“Commander,” the captain said. “FreeWheel data has been collected and we’ve drawn some conclusions.”

“Yes sir, Uzik said.

“There are twelve hundred possible ships that could have damaged Faktuus. We were able to narrow down potential actors to ten different races. I passed along the information and damage data the FreeWheel received from the attack yesterday. We’ve been able to bring down the list of possible races to a dozen. We’re fairly certain this is the work of goblins.”

“Goblins?” Uzik said.

“Goblins. My strategists have deduced that you were attacked by a faction of nomadic non-state goblins. Their rate of reproduction pushes them out of planets and they survive with a modest growing crew until they’re destroyed. They do not observe conventions of war and have technological capabilities to pose as a decent threat. Especially in numbers.”

“We’re suspicious that they’re employing stealth capabilities,” Uzik said.

“Unlikely,” Captain Silas said. “They would have attacked all at once and rushed in. They would be attacking Faktuus right now and trying to plunder the ship. If what you’ve said about a hit and run is true, then you’re probably facing a small band of rogue goblins. Not a faction. You might think they’re using stealth because there are so few of them. The damage you’ve encountered on Faktuus is evidence enough that those goblins don’t have enough power to raid the ship. Take care of them swiftly.”

“Any word on the Solodon technicians?” Uzik said.

“I’ll be getting back to you on that,” Captain Silas said. “Let’s talk later.”