Deckard walked down the halls of the Nebula Alliance headquarters. Not in The Cosmic City, but instead on his home world of Teresii. An abnormal location to have a faction headquarters, as it was harder to access, but far more secure for his interests. He walked into the situation room and sat at his desk. The various Signers and Ascendants sworn to his faction sat a little straighter in their desks, all arranged in a perfect hexagon around a central holographic display.
The world shown was the most recent planet to undergo Cosmogenic Merging – Earth. Dumb name for a world, Deckard thought. But, they’ve got plentiful resources, and their local space has a ton of planetoids and stellar objects to harvest. He leaned back in his chair and his tentacles wrapped around the legs of the seat and the suckers along his back affixed him solidly to the seat. “The lockdown is still in effect, I see. So why call this emergency meeting?”
One of the more veteran Nebula Alliance Ascendants, a small pixie of a woman with fluttering, gossamer wings and sparkling pink hair stood up. “The lock was prohibiting all from entering or leaving – except for Star Council Signers, their Ascendants…and these four.” She tapped a few buttons on her desk, and the holographic display swapped to show a trio of these ‘humans’ and a single Oslia. “Cosmic Powers based on their symbols have been confirmed: Planet, Pulsar, Star…and Dark Matter.”
Deckard’s six eyes all went wide. “Dark Matter? You’re positive, Sheereen?”
“Yes, sir. I have verified it with images taken of prior Dark Matter Signers.”
“This confirms that X is the one who initiated and is maintaining the lock on entering or leaving Earth.” Deckard moved forward and pulled up his console view, tapping with several tentacles on glowing icons in the air as he rifled through reports with impossible speed. “What are they doing on Earth?”
“They’re ruining one of the five megacorporations, sir,” Sheereen replied. “Or, they are the most likely candidates to be doing so. The level of collateral damage…the Star Council would not normally go to such extremes.”
Deckard nodded. The megacorporations were the ticket to the Nebula Alliance taking control of Earth. All five were in their pocket at this point, and it was just a matter of time until that world’s governments caved to corruption. Taking over a whole world was a tricky business. If it wasn’t a single Ascendant from that world then 76% of the population would have to agree to the faction taking over.
And there were just enough in these governments and their territories holding out that the Nebula Alliance was stonewalled. Sure, the method of giving the megacorporations on the world advanced cybernetic designs and production schematics had panned out. The masses were given fantastic prosthetics and machined replacements for their weaker, organic components.
Since there was a guarantee of no malware or other negative side effects, because if anything Deckard prized his customers being satisfied and getting what they paid for, the propaganda campaign had gone splendidly. He was so close to the world having enough of the population to force a World Faction Assignment vote. Those governments being propped up by the Star Council was a source of irritation in this new acquisition effort.
Not his only effort underway, but one of the most promising given the plentiful stellar objects around the planetoid.
Reading the reports he was getting from the Signers and Ascendants they had on-world, who were trapped there until the lock on the portals ended, he learned about a horrifying earthquake that crippled half of the production power of Pheracorp. And, it had killed hundreds of thousands.
Putting the console to the side, he looked at Sheereen, “You’re the one in charge of this new world’s integration. Are we sending Aspirants or Ascendants to these Pheracorp holdings in-” he checked a report, “-South America?”
“We are sir.”
Deckard sighed and stood up, his tentacles and suckers loosening their grip as he strolled over to their data-guru; a genius information-style Class wielder named Frojen. “Whoever those Dark Between Stars Signers are…especially that Dark Matter one…find out more about them. We need that data to comba-”
“Already have, boss,” the rock-man rumbled out. “We got the codename ‘Priest’ for the Pulsar Cosmic Power user. Free agent, his info was blocked out by X. A Signer for the Star Council named Quinn Cipher – Star Broker Class, so she was easy to figure out. Greg Bhastal, Planet Protector and free agent. And the last one is called ‘Flicker’ and is also blocked out by X. We only know he’s Dark Matter because of his Cosmic Power Symbol and our records. We have a video from their Aspirant Trial, and then a few mentions of their activity.”
“Send it to my data-stream,” Deckard replied as he patted Frojen on the back. “Great work,” he said in between his suckers pulling away with tiny schlorps. He walked back to his desk and pulled up the information. Watching the video, he felt a twinge of sympathy. “How did we not learn about this one? Why didn’t we send them Quests?” he asked the feathered, crested man with the narrow head seated to his right.
“We were blocked,” his head recruiter, an Ascendant named Tyul said as he brushed his feathers with a device meant to remove excess downy feathers underneath his flight layer. “I tried; believe me! I sent a ton of easy Quests to try and get him interested – but they were all blocked by X.”
Confirms my suspicion then, that this X is indeed the faction leader of the Dark Between Stars. He nodded and looked through the logs of Flicker. Dealing with Black Hole Conclave members on his trial world…Nihilethelea’s Dungeon Run an- “Is this accurate, Frojen?”
“Yea, boss. He killed Double-A.”
Deckard would have blinked in astonishment if he was capable of doing so. He killed the ruling Ascendant of a whole world? That’s…difficult. “What leverage can we pull?” he asked as he put the digital documentation aside.
“Well,” Tyul replied as he put away his brush and fixed his finely tailored suit to sit perfectly just like his immaculate red feathers, “Nothing, really. A Civilian did interact with him, but their data has been blocked off by X. Based off of the scattered bits of combat information we have…he’s strong. No weaknesses we can detect. But, we don’t have much intel on Dark Matter as a whole insofar as how it is incorporated into The Cosmic System.”
“And we know nothing else about this Flicker? Not where he’s from? Family? Nothing?”
“He’s from Earth. General Logistics had a note here…let me find it.” Tyul flipped through various data screens.
“Got him!” Frojen shouted – uncharacteristic for the rock-man. He spoke rapidly and with excitement, also a rarity for his persona. “Jace Seren. General Logistics had him logged as a courier, a burnable transportation asset. He was carrying something called Cyberconnect Integration Fluid – CIF for short. They sent an Aspirant with the Nebula Cosmic Power, not Signed, just working for their company still – and she died going to recover the CIF…her Wayfinder got video! I’ll pull it up.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The video snapped on the holographic projector from the point-of-view of this ‘Henrietta’ Aspirant. The Wayfinder had been engaged in combat with a weird fur-eel-thing, and so the images were interrupted occasionally. But, Deckard’s super-fast processing in his brain was able to put together a three-dimensional recreation in his imagination. The image became clear towards the conclusion of the fight, when this Jace was knocked off of the building and came back a few moments later, legs…invisible? And then something impacted her before the video faded.
Frojen chuckled, “X must’ve not thought to block this bit of video. I’ll save it locally, just in case.”
Deckard warbled. His version of a laugh given his species’ biology. “We got his name and his prior job. And…his appearance. Great work! Frojen, you’re getting a bonus!” This drew a look of irritation from Tyul, but the bird-man just picked up his console and left the room.
I can work with this. He looked to Sheereen, “I would wager good money that this Jace and those other three Aspirants are the ones mucking about in this South America and damaging Pheracorp’s infrastructure. This Star Broker we know is a Signer for Star Father’s faction. The Star Council wants the world, and we can infer that Dark Between Stars is allied with them to keep us from taking Earth over.”
“I concur,” Sheereen replied.
“Then…as much as I’d like to add this ‘Flicker’, this ‘Jace’ to our ranks due to his unique Cosmic Power…we can’t afford to be merciful. Let our Aspirants and Ascendants that are en route know that they should not try and take any of these four alive.” A shame, he thought. I would very much like to add his power to my faction.
----------------------------------------
“…How many?” Jace asked as he looked at Ollie, who had poked his head out of Jace’s hood.
“I…I…” Ollie seemed at a loss for words.
//////////////////////////
[Batch Quest: Stop Pheracorp operations in Campinas.]
[Current Progress: 59%]
[Time Limit: 8 hours.]
[Reward: Based upon Current Progress when Time Limit expires. (Equipment).]
[Thresholds: 10%-20% Common, 21%-40% Uncommon, 41%-60% Rare, 61%-80% Epic, 81%-99% Legendary, 100% Artifact.]
[Sender: Dark Between Stars]
//////////////////////////
Swallowing the knot forming in his throat, Jace asked once more. “How many people did I just kill?”
Ollie’s eyes snapped to black, and his mouth opened as Xera’s voice came through in a soft, apologetic tone. “I’m sorry…a lot to you…but in the grand scheme of things, 234,854 people is not a large number.”
Jace meekly shook his head, “I…I killed so many people just now. In seconds…” he felt tears coming on and blinked them back as best he could. “They weren’t even threatening me! I just crushed them…they didn’t have a chance.”
Once more, Xera’s tone shifted. It was…full of sorrow. Commiserating in his misery mixed with understanding. “You are part of a Cosmic System that has hundreds of trillions of life forms in it. In the grand scheme of things…this is a very, very small loss.”
“They’re dead because of me!” Jace shouted at her as he sank to his knees. “Because…” he trailed off, still trying to process the heinous act he had just committed.
Her voice became a bit sterner, but still had that affectionate overtone; like a parent who was soothing their child that had accidentally broken a window. Slightly admonishing, but coming from a place of concerned, unconditional love. “If you don’t stop the Nebula Alliance from taking over by dismantling those megacorporations, you will be the one that enables the suffering of Earth’s population going forward into the future.”
This was far different from the mech pilots and Streetrunners he had slain. Those people were trying to kill him. He’d come to terms with that and didn’t feel regret of any type for their deaths. And he knew he wouldn’t feel regret for hostile combatants being killed going forward.
But these deaths? Most likely people working their factory jobs? Cogs in the megacorporation machine? This was far different. That earlier regret that he clashed with dripped back into his gut.
“You want your sister back, right?” Xera asked. “You’d do anything to get to Tier 10 and bring her back, right? There were no innocents harmed here.” Her voice became stern once more as she continued, “They all chose to work for Pheracorp, and Pheracorp wants to sell out the world to the Nebula Alliance. You’re doing what you’re doing to level up and survive.”
Survive. The word resonated through Jace’s mind like the clear ringing of a bell, driving any remorse away. Survive for her, he thought. The kernel of hatred that was flowing through him reignited into embers. I’ll do anything to get her back. He recalled the words he had said aloud on that glacier less than a week ago.
“They all worked for a megacorporation. Just like the ones that you despise. The ones who allowed your sister to die.” Xera’s voice became more fervent.
That’s been the whole point of this entire journey. He shook his head and wiped away the tears as that ember began to billow further into a flame. I have to get to Tier 10 for Chroma. I need to bring her back.
“They are responsible for so much death and misery. Punishing them for that is not wrong,” Xera said as she reached a fever pitch of righteous justification of Jace’s actions.
“You’re right,” Jace weakly replied as he looked at the small map still hovering in the bottom of his vision. That flame of hatred exploded into an inferno, and it rushed up to his head as the crackling, sparking static of bright red infused his body. “They took Chroma from me, because of they let those gangs run free and wild.”
The sparking and crackling amplified further, and he saw a brief flash of a woman with long, black hair – his mother’s silhouette. “She fucking abandoned me and my sister for them! For money, for a job!”
All these people here; they sold themselves to this megacorp. There are no innocents here, just like she said. People who made their choice. Their death is the consequence of their decision to work for these evil bastards.
All remorse was burned away in the blink of an eye at righteous anger that – in his eyes – was fully justified. If they worked for a megacorp, and got in his way, their injury or death would be acceptable.
They all are just tiny cogs in a huge machine. Hundreds of trillions in the grand scheme of things. I’m not. I’m not just a tiny part of this System. I’m the fucking guy repairing the whole mess. Anything I do to keep this System running is justified.
He began running over the shattered landscape as he activated Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) – heading for the other half of Campinas that was unmarred.
----------------------------------------
Xera leaned back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced at the holographic display which showed his body. Currently, his brain was filled with norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin which was maxed out to the safe levels given his biology. That Wrathblade Class might be problematic, she thought. But it’s the only basic Class Expansion he can get.
She knew very well the ins and outs of The Cosmic System. Class Expansions were limited to once for every 50 levels – one for the base Class and one for the Advanced Class, and they required a severe emotional state to be felt until a higher level.
This Expansion…it was proving quite useful. Both in combat and in sheer destructive potential.
But she knew all too well how dangerous it could be to have a Signer with so much capability that was unfocused. Xera took a sip of green tea, savoring the fresh, grassy, nutty flavor. No mindless rage, thank you very much! I’ve dealt with that too many times before.
During her time running the Dark Between Stars within The Cosmic System, she had Signed two berserker-style Classed individuals. Both had succumbed to their enraged state-Skills…and she did not want to risk that again.
She was unsure how to fix it, to keep Jace from being lost to the very similar Wrath’s Embrace. As she wracked her brain, and looked over his status screen, an idea popped into her head. He has that [Focused] Skill Evolution…hmm. I can integrate that better.
Thanks to him maxing out Cosmic Infusion, she could literally configure his biology using the System. Not drastically, but little changes here, folding protein there, genome altering over there…easy changes given the level of technology, magitech, and magic at her disposal.
Xera changed around a few chemical receptors in his brain within moments, and saw the effects kick in as the chemical activity was capped at a new maximum, and slowly decreased until it was below that maximum. Controlling his brain’s chemical composition was useful to help influence his emotions, but she had to use a gentle touch.
There; now there is no chance for him to lose his mind in a rage. He’ll always have his higher-order thinking skills override the primal anger. She sat back and took another sip of the tea. I should consider more biological changes to help refine him further. Ah, well, that’s for another day.
She turned to another floating panel and began working on another task but kept glancing back at Jace’s readout and the ‘camera’ style view from Ollie’s perspective, feeling that trace of maternal instinct kick in; a concern for her Signer’s well-being. I don’t want to lose him. To rage or regret. She began typing in a message to an Ascendant who owed her.